A Thorn in the Side
by Klimmatt
Summary: AU. What if Wally West idolised his Aunt Pamela rather than his Uncle Barry? Rather than growing up as the latest proud member of the Flash Legacy, he walked a very different path.
1. Chapter 1

There are an infinite number of parallel universes, in which an infinite number of possibilities play out. Sometimes these worlds are so similar that one could spend lifetimes searching for the differences and never find them. Others are so drastically different that an individual from one universe would not even recognize the Earth of another. There are worlds with differences so trivial as one insignificant child deciding on a different breakfast beverage on morning, and others so dissimilar that humans are not even the dominant species on Earth.

In the universe you are all familiar with, the young man known as Wallace Rudolph West grew up idolizing his uncle, Barry Allen, to the point where, upon learning of his dual identity as 'the Flash', Wally put to work his prodigious young mind towards duplicating his hero's abilities, eventually becoming the teen sidekick 'Kid Flash.

But, in another, something else happened. A different chain of events unfolded, kicked off by the slightest of decisions.

When Wally was young, only six years old, his parents, Rudolph and Mary, arranged a trip. They were to be attending a conference in Cleveland for a week and had decided that bringing their son along with them would be inconvenient to them all. Now, that is not to say that they did not love their son, rather, they knew that Wally would be bored senseless and would not appreciate being dragged along. Instead, they petitioned their relatives for a babysitter.

In the universe you are all familiar with, Rudolph's sister Iris, and her still new boyfriend Barry, volunteered for the post. Here, however, Iris found herself swamped by work and could not free herself.

Instead, Mary's sister, Pamela Isley, agreed to take care of Wally, and the youngster was dropped off in Gotham City, where his aunt was studying as a budding botanist.

Instead of being amazed and transfixed by Barry Allen's anecdotes about forensic sciences and the various cases he had worked on, Wally spent the week equally enchanted by his aunt's tales of environmental exploits and botanical research.

When the week was over and Wally was returned to his parents, he maintained a close relationship with his Aunt Pam, one that he had been meant to forge with Barry and Iris. And, whenever the Wests were required to go out of town from then on, Wally would be shipped off to Gotham City to spend time with his dearly beloved aunt.

Until, of course, the Incident.

It was years before anyone discovered how it had happened. All anyone knew at the time was that Dr. Pamela Isley was transformed, becoming the being dubbed by the media as 'Poison Ivy', an eco-terrorist who utilized her plant-like abilities in her attempts to 'purify' Gotham City, returning it to a primordial state where vegetation could be free of the threat of man's pollution.

She was depicted as a monster, an insane, tree-hugging, temptress... but her nephew believed in her. Wally could never doubt his aunt and, though he was unable to contact her, he knew that she was not as the reporters claimed.

He made excuses for her. He focussed on her environmentalist goals rather than her methods and denied any allegations that she was a murderer. He idolized her still. She was the same way she ever was, he insisted, though he rarely got the chance to see her. Maybe a touch more enthusiastic about plants, but that was only to be expected.

And, as Poison Ivy began a vicious cycle of incarceration, escape, and battle with the Gotham hero 'Batman', Wally worked towards a newfound goal.

He had discovered her origins, you see. Whilst he and his mother had cleaned out Isley's home after her first incarceration, he had found several of her journals, detailing her research and experiments. One of these specifying the work she had been doing with Dr. Jason Woodrue at the time of her transformation. A formula to meld vegetative and mammalian DNA.

Wally was only twelve, but he understood the implications of his discovery, and he confronted his aunt when next he was allowed to visit her in Arkham Asylum.

She told him the truth, that Woodrue had injected her with the unfinished formula when their funding was threatened, in an attempt to prove it successful to their investors. And how, after learning to speak to the plants that surrounded her, she had vowed to rid the world of the pollution that continued to threaten them.

The twelve year old Wally was enraptured by his aunt's description, and, when the guards came to escort her away in chains, back to her cell, he vowed to help her in any way he could. It was as his mother began the long drive back to Missouri that the wheels in Wally's mind began to spin, searching for ways that he could do exactly that, and he started to leaf through his aunt's journal, stopping on the page where the mutagenic plant formula was displayed.

_'I could make this,'_ he thought silently, running figures and calculations through his head as Mary drove obliviously onwards, '_I could be just like her.'_

* * *

Months after the discovery of Isley's journal, Wally bustled about his bedroom, his heart racing in his excitement. Today was the Day.

He'd spent weeks putting the formula together, with much of that time spent simply acquiring the necessary chemicals (his Aunt Iris's new husband may have been missing a few things from his supply kit) and preparing them as the journal dictated. That had actually been the easy part.

Almost a quarter of his room was taken up by potted plants, venus fly traps, roses, briars and several others, all carefully cultivated to provide him with some of the necessary genetic material.

Meticulously placing a few drops of the briar extract into his concoction was the finishing touch. The formula was ready.

In his excitement, Wally darted to the draws of his desk, plucking a hypodermic needle from its depths, carefully removing it from its sterile packaging before drawing the green fluid into it.

Holding the needle in his hand, Wally stared at it, knowing without a doubt that this next minute would irrevocably alter his life. For a moment he pondered the consequences of that change, what would happen if this was successful? Worse, what would happen if it wasn't?

He didn't linger on those thoughts, however, and his mind soon settled on the most optimistic possibility. He, as Poison Ivy's super-powered sidekick, a hero to the environment, he and his aunt recognized for their genius.

He grinned, and without another thought plunged the needle into his arm, emptying its contents as he tried to hide his wince of pain.

The fluid began to speed through his bloodstream, dispersed by Wally's racing heart, and he watched, transfixed, as his skin began to pale, radiating outwards from the needle, turning almost green before his eyes.

He could feel the changes take ahold of his body, he could feel himself grow stronger, and his awareness grew, spreading throughout the room as he began to ifeel/i the plants that surrounded him.

He could also feel himself grow weaker as his body, not knowing how to react to the changes, sought to render him unconscious as it dealt with the shock of the transformation.

As his mind began to dim, all Wally could feel was joy. He'd done it.

His parents found him the next morning, emerald lips etched into a smile on his sleeping form.

* * *

Wally awoke to the sound of screams coming at him from all sides.

Jolting into a seated position, the thirteen year old's eyes darted wildly around the room as he sought out the source, scuttling wildly along the ground to put his back against a wall.

His eyes soon rested on his parents, whose frames filled his doorway, his father shoving himself between Wally and his mother, as though she needed protection from their own son.

Wally's eyes met Rudolph's, and the boy saw something in his father's soul that he had never seen before. Dismay. Fear. Rejection. It took a moment for Wally to even recognize it, and then to see that it was mirrored in his mother.

"What have you done," Mary gasped, voice tight with despair.

Wally couldn't answer her. He was too afraid, too shocked by their reaction. This wasn't what he thought would happen! They weren't supposed to be scared!

It was then that Wally's attention was drawn back to the plants that littered his room, and he realized that it wasn't just his parents that had screamed. The vegetation had somehow managed to pick up on the waves of hostility coming from Wally's parents and had begun to speak to him in a way that Wally had never thought possible.

The plants were reacting to his own fears of his parents' rejection, and he could see the briars starting to creep slowly from their position, the venus fly traps leaning closer towards the door, and even the roses shifting as they felt something akin to bloodlust against the parents of their caregiver.

A wave of denial rippled out of him, stopping the plant in their tracks, and Wally turned back to face his parents, horrified. Mary and Rudolph were equally horrified, despite not knowing how close they had come to harm.

"Mom, Dad," he whispered, knowing that that horror was directed at him, "I-"

His mother flinched at his voice, and his father's face grew tighter still as Rudolph tried to contain his own fear for his wife's sake.

Wally didn't now what to do. This was not what he'd planned. His parents weren't supposed to be scared of him.

The roses moved, this time without him stopping them, coming to place a flower within reach of his right hand, which he plucked with what amounted to the plant's permission, holding it out to his parents as an offering as he got to his feet.

"Everything's fine," he said softly, but as he stepped forward his parents stepped back, and Wally knew that it was a lie.

They didn't tell him to leave. To Wally's knowledge they never once verbalized that desire, the idea of truly denying their own son was even more horrifying to them than what he had become, and for that he was immensely grateful. But they didn't stop him either, when he ran out his bedroom window and out into the world, nothing to his name but the clothes on his back and a single rose clutched tightly in his hand.

* * *

That first day, Wally wandered. He kept to the shadows of Central City, unable to reveal himself and wishing fervently that he had thought to grab a hoodie, or at least a pair of shoes, before dashing from his home.

He briefly considered going to his Aunt Iris for help, but the thought was fleeting. After his parents' reaction he knew that there was only one person who would accept his new coloration. It was a pity she was all the way in Gotham City.

He ducked his head, crouched against the side of an office building miles from his home. Central to Gotham was almost a thousand miles, and it wasn't like he could ask his parents for a lift or hop on a bus.

As the sun drew higher in the sky, Wally eventually left the shade, though only when he was certain no one else was about, only to be struck by the sensation of the sun on his skin.

He almost moaned it was so amazing. The warmth seeped deep into his flesh and the gnawing rumbling in his belly seemed to dim. If he'd been able he would have purred.

In that instant, he felt almost complete. The doubts that had been niggling in the back of his mind dissipated and Wally felt certain that he had done good by administering the formula. In that moment he felt powerful enough to take on the world, and he resolved to himself that he would make it to Gotham City and his aunt, even if he had to walk there himself.

* * *

Three days later and he was deeply revising his opinion on that statement. Walking was not fun, especially when one was lacking in shoes. Wally's feet were covered in a myriad of cuts where rocks and twigs had dug into him, and his body was exhausted.

Each day he walked in an easterly direction for a total of around ten hours, stopping as the sun began to set in the summer sky. At which point, Wally would seek out nourishment.

That was possibly the simplest part of the day, where the plants would lead him willingly to water and the nearest cluster of berries or fruits, where his power would feed the vegetation, just as they fed him. He found, thankfully, that he did not require as much food as he once had, suspecting it to be the result of his transformation, he decided that he was, like the plants, absorbing energy from the sunlight.

He hunted, once or twice on his journey. The plants directing him to small wildlife, mainly rabbits, acting as snares for him. Then, using the pocket knife that had not left his side since his eleventh birthday, he would gut and skin the rabbit, as he had been taught to in the Scouts, before setting it to cook above a carefully constructed flame.

And to think, Wally had been completely against the idea of joining the Boy Scouts as a child. He had claimed that he'd never need to know anything that they could teach him. With his situation as it was, Wally was beginning to suspect that the universe had taken that childish statement as a challenge.

Still, he soldiered on, and his body soon began to change, this time not because of any mutagenic formulae that Wally decided to introduce to his system. No, his body changed naturally, beginning to develop through the pressures he was submitting it too.

His feet began to toughen after long days of hiking. His baby fat evaporated from his frame, no longer sustained by a diet of junk food and a lifestyle of inactivity. Muscles developed and his body grew lithe and strong.

His powers too developed, as, through long days of walking, his powers were the one thing he could do to amuse himself aside from 'I Spy', which really got dull when you were playing against yourself. So, he tested his connection to the plants around him.

Grass grew wildly as he walked over it, flowers bloomed in his presence. Trees reacted variably depending on their age, with the eldest being so set in their ways that they honestly could not be bothered by him, whilst the youngest turned limber as rubber, becoming multi-limbed aids at his direction.

And, through it all, he talked. Always a social creature, Wally, devoid from others, spoke his thoughts aloud, pretending that the vegetation understood concepts more complex than 'we want water/food/sun'. The plants responded to his cheerful demeanor, urging him to continue, and he spoke of anything and everything that came to mind.

Until, of course, on the 57th day of his journey, Wally finally reached Gotham City, and, in the presence of civilization once more, Wally turned silent as he began to plot how to release his aunt from Arkham.

* * *

If Wally had been a little older, a tad wiser and a touch more experienced, he might have concocted an elaborate sequence of events, wherein he would quietly infiltrate the compound, utilizing the toxic abilities Poison Ivy was feared for to avoid raising any alarm from the prison populace. But Wally was still relatively new to his powers, and, having spent the past six weeks in near total isolation, had not yet tested that aspect of his mutation, nor did he have any desire to experiment with them on the prison guards given the traditional method of application.

Instead, standing on the grassy knoll above Arkham Asylum and being the thirteen year old meta-human that he was, he decided to go with overwhelming force.

Wally reached out with his powers, seeking out every blade of grass in the ground, every seed in the earth, telling them one simple thing. _Grow_.

Wally concentrated hard, focussing on his surroundings as he saw his desires come into reality. He saw the darkened prison yard sprout a small forest. He watched as ivy creepers running along the walls of the compound grew thicker and longer as they sought out weaknesses in the structure.

He put the vegetation through decades of growth in minutes, sending roots and vines into tiny cracks, forcing them to expand in the mortar until, eventually, a deafening _crack_ rippled through the air, and Wally's emerald lips widened into a grin as a section of Arkham's walls came tumbling down.

Snickering quietly to himself, Wally started to make his way down to the newly made entrance, and into the compound itself.

* * *

Wally could hear the deafening roar of the prisoners as he made his way through the complex, hundreds of inmates awakened by the sudden growth of anything and everything green calling out for Poison Ivy to release them, some swearing loyalty, others promising vengeance. Wally chose to leave all of them alone as he wound his way through the halls.

The guards were no problem, the plants had already found them. When Wally eventually did come across one, he was pinned to a wall by a mass of grass, cussing the world in general and Wally specifically. He chose to leave him alone too, though this time he left with a grin on his face.

"Where the hell is she?" He quietly wondered aloud as he entered another cellblock. He was running out of time, surely someone would hear of Arkham's little garden troubles soon.

"Hey, Red, little help here?" A girlish voice giggled from a cell as he walked past, before turning colder and confused, "Hey, you're not Red. Who're you?"

Wally walked up to the cell, seeing a blonde around his aunt's age through the barred window, "Thorn. Who're you?"

"Harley," the woman grinned, "You must be Ivy's nephew."

His eyes lit up, "You know her?"

"Sure, kid," Harley boasted proudly, "Your aunt an' I go _way_ back. BFFs since as long as I can remember."

Wally frowned, "How long can you remember?"

Harley paused at that, frowning slightly as though confused, before shrugging it off, "I dunno."

"Do you know where my aunt's cell is?" Wally asked.

"Sure do, Little Red," she giggled, cutting herself off, "We need to get you a riding hood."

Wally blanched at that, but shook himself out of it, "So, I let you out, you help me find my aunt, deal?"

Harley nodded solemnly, before grinning maniacally, spitting into her right hand and holding it out through the bars, "Deal."

Wally returned the grin, spitting into his own hand and shook the offered limb with vigor to seal the deal.

"Back away from the door," he ordered softly, as tendrils of ivy heeded his call, creeping past him and latching onto various points of the door, several of the vines wedging themselves between the door and the frame itself. In a swift, sudden, motion, the plants tensed, pulling the door from its position, freeing Harleen Quinzel, a.k.a. 'Harley Quinn'.

"Let's go," she giggled, brushing past the green boy without hesitation and skipping dementedly down the hall, "Red's this way."

Wally followed without question.

* * *

Pamela Isley, better known by the moniker 'Poison Ivy', had been asleep in her cell before the night's insanity had begun, but she, not even with the prison issue power dampener around her neck, simply could not remain unconscious when so many plants were screaming out in joy at the power running through their roots.

She could feel the source of the power, and she knew that it was one such as herself, but it was not until Harley arrived at her door, with what appeared to be a gender-flipped young clone of herself in tow that she realized it was Wally.

Ivy couldn't bring herself to speak as Harley greeted her, Wally grinning at her side, before numerous vines began to work their way at her door, swiftly releasing her.

She would like to say that, upon her release, the first thing she did was to wrap her absolute _genius_ of a nephew in an unbreakable embrace, but, well, Harley got to her before she could move, and she spent her first minute of freedom trying to disentangle herself from the clown's grip. Only then could she properly greet her nephew.

"Aunt Pam!" He cheered, as he hugged her tightly, "I am so glad to see you. I figured out the formula!"

"I can see that," she smiled warmly, before looking sharply down the hall, "You can tell me how later, first we need to escape. Harley, if you would."

The blonde giggled in a deranged manner, but her hands deftly moved to the collar around Ivy's neck, soon rendering it open and useless as it fell to the forces of gravity.

The uncomfortable tightness gone from her neck, Ivy tilted her head to the side, relishing in the resounding _crack_ that was heard with a sigh.

"Let's get out of here."

And with Poison Ivy in command of Arkham's absolutely stunning new garden, her nephew at her side, there was little anyone could do to stop them.

* * *

It was hours later, hidden away in a conveniently abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Gotham City, that Ivy got the chance to speak with her nephew.

Harley had gone off on her own the second they arrived, whether in search of the Joker or groceries Ivy had no idea, inadvertently giving the duo some privacy.

Sitting Wally down in what was once an office, she finally asked him.

"Why did you do it?"

Out of all the questions he had been expecting, that wasn't one of them, and Wally was speechless for a moment, which Ivy used to explain herself.

"I am not like this by choice, Wally," she told him, gesturing to the green tint of her skin, "Granted, I wouldn't go back, but this was still not a life that I chose for myself. So, why did you do it?"

"I just... wanted to help," he mumbled softly, not meeting his aunt's eyes.

"Help?" Ivy smiled, "That's sweet, Wally, but maybe you should have asked if I'd needed help first, so we could have talked about-"

"No," Wally interrupted her, facing her again, "I didn't mean I wanted to help _you_."

Ivy froze, stung by his words, leaning back as she prepared to respond. Thankfully he continued before she had the chance.

"I _mean_," he went on, "You're _you_! You don't _need_ my help. I wanted to help the plants."

Ivy almost sagged with relief at that, and almost melted when Wally concluded shyly.

"I wanted to be like you."

"Well," she acquiesced with a soft smile, "You _are_ already green. That's a good start."

"So," Wally asked hopefully, "You'll teach me? I can be your Robin?"

She scowled at the mention of Bird-Boy, but her features swiftly morphed into a grin, "Sure. What did you call yourself earlier with Harley? Thorn?"

Wally nodded excitedly, and Poison Ivy continued, "You can be my Thorn."

Ivy's freedom almost ended that night, seeing how she very nearly needed to consult a physician on the subject of broken ribs, brought about by her new sidekick/nephew's bone crushing hug.

* * *

If Ivy had had her way, it would have been months, maybe even years, before Wally met Batman, or, really, anyone else (aside from Harley) from her profession. Unfortunately, due to the fact that she and Harley were escaped felons and Harley Quinn was not, by nature, a quiet individual, Batman tracked the trio to their little hideout within two days.

Thankfully, during their relatively short tenure of freedom, Ivy and Wally had put their powers to work to make the warehouse somewhat more livable, essentially destroying the concrete floor and turning the building into a tropical forrest that hosted a wide variety of plant life.

This, as you would expect, gave her a significant advantage over her opponent, the ivy creepers that lined the outside of the structure even alerting Ivy to the Bat's presence.

Gotham's Dark Knight did not waste time with pleasantries or quips, as some heroes were prone to do, he merely appeared from the shadows, weapons drawn. Harley launched herself at him, and the two began to dance a familiar step of battle, Ivy manipulating their surroundings as she joined the fray, not giving a single thought to the second intruder that was bound to be in their midst.

As such, preoccupied by sending the roses to entangle the Batman, Ivy did not notice the Robin propelled Bat-a-rangs being sent her way until Wally had intervened, catching the projectiles with a tangle of vines. Too bad he didn't know that they were explosive.

"Aargh!" Wally screamed in sympathetic pain, as he felt his vines be ripped to shreds by tiny shrapnel, "Dude, don't hurt the plants!"

Robin stared in open mouth shock at the younger chlorokinetic to the side of the elders battle. Despite this, however, his quick tongue and razor wit were still functioning.

"Tell _them_ not to hurt me, Bulbasaur!" The Boy Wonder scolded as he avoided the attack of a rapidly grown vine's whip.

"It's _Thorn_, Boy Blunder," Wally retorted, as several more vines joined the first's pursuit of the agile Robin, "Now stay still so I can hit you!"

"Make me!"

"Rargh!" Wally growled, losing what little patience he had as he focussed on the ground beneath him, bringing forth another, much larger, vine and crouching upon it as it lifted him skywards, moving him in the young vigilante's direction.

Robin flipped easily away from Thorn's plantborne charge, hands darting midair to grip dangling vines and branches of the surrounding vegetation, darting acrobatically around the area as his opponent followed.

Propelled by his vine, Wally carried himself through the air in pursuit of the colorfully dressed child.

"So, what are you, anyway?" Robin called out curiously, settling into a routine as Thorn tried and failed to capture him, "Did Ivy grow you in a cabbage patch or something?"

"I grew myself, thank you very much," Wally replied, settling in space as he called his vine to a halt, coming to realize that his current approach was not working, "What about you? Did Bats put an ad out on Craigslist or something?"

"Something," Robin told him, he too settling as Thorn halted his pursuit, recognizing that the green teen was plotting.

All around him, vines erupted from the vegetation, entangling him in barely even a second.

_'Damnit,'_ Robin thought, struggling futilely without even bothering to disguise his 'hey' of indignation, _'This would never've happened to Batman!'_

"Hah," Thorn crowed at the captured bird, his vine bringing him closer, "Got you!"

_'Not for long,'_ he thought, one hand already having grasped a Bat-a-rang and started cutting at his bonds.

It was long enough, however, for Thorn to rush to Ivy's side, adding his power to her own and allowing them to overwhelm Batman as his attention was divided between the chlorokinetics and Harley, giving the trio ample time to escape, despite the clown's fond desire to pound Batman into pudding first. Luckily Wally was able to talk her out of it.

"He's a good guy," Wally had told her, as though that explained everything.

Thankfully the Joker hadn't been present and Harley's violent tendencies were, thus, substantially reduced, enabling her to acquiesce to the adorable 'Little Red's' desires.

She still thought he was odd though.

* * *

"Are you sure that you're up for this?" Ivy asked, a week later.

"Yes!" Wally rolled his eyes sufferingly. After keeping under the Bat's radar ever since their escape, Wally was bored enough to consider sneaking into Gotham Academy just for something to do, there was no way in hell Aunt Pam was going out without him!

"Ah, give it a rest, will ya Red?" Harley chided her pal, bumping her ribs with her elbow, "The kid'll be great!"

Wally beamed at 'Aunt Harley', and Ivy groaned. The two were absolutely horrible influences on each other, and they were ganging up on her!

"Fine," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as her cohorts began to jump around the room in a childish manner that was only excused because, well, Wally was only thirteen, and Harley... was Harley.

The 'mission', as Wally called it, was fairly simple in plan and execution, brought about by three simple factors. Wally was restless, Ivy wanted to return to her task of changing the world for the betterment of plants everywhere (which Wally also kind of wanted to do), and Harley wanted shiny things, as well as, preferably, things that went 'boom' (which, again, Wally also kind of wanted).

They'd compromised then, with Ivy targeting a shell company owned by Ace Chemicals, one that had been known to have broken various environmental and waste disposal protocols with alarming regularity. This particular target, an industrial factory situated on a riverbank several miles outside of Gotham, had been investigated twice already for illegally dumping chemicals into the river, which was causing a devastating effect on the local ecology.

Wally almost thrummed with excitement as the trio drew near their goal, Ivy smiling almost tenderly, and Harley iliterally/i vibrating with energy.

Having been free of Arkham for over a week now, Harley had been able to ditch the prison regs, finding a replacement of her usual costume. Ivy, similarly, had created her leafy leotard almost immediately upon their release.

Wally, on the other hand, wasn't so comfortable with either spandex or the thought of only leafs covering his modesty, and had, instead, simply asked Harley to steal him a new pair of jeans and a dark green hoodie (she was sent back twice before she finally agreed to get one that wasn't red) that directly contrasted with the much lighter green of his skin. He had continued to forego shoes, though, having come to much prefer the feel of dirt between his toes.

The three of them walked slowly up to the compound, Ivy and Wally summoning gargantuan quantities of vegetative matter from the earth.

Ivy smiled serenely, Wally grinning proudly and Harley laughing hysterically as gnarled branches ripped the chain-link fence apart, creepers dug into the mortar and grass grew through cracks in the concrete.

Wally concentrated as the creepers dug deep enough to begin to crumble the brick walls, Ivy being experienced enough to divide her attention.

"Aargh!"

The concentration he'd been cultivating shattered as Wally heard the masculine holler pierce the air, the plants he'd been commanding halting in their progress as he processed the information he'd just been given.

"There are people still in there," he called out, though Ivy did not seem to take notice.

In an instant, Wally was in communication with the grassy undergrowth developing throughout the facility's floor, taking note of the positions of two security guards who had had the shared misfortune of drawing the night shift. Vines shot through the infrastructure, wrapping around an arm and a leg before they pulled the struggling employees free of the collapsing building, tossing them to safety as it imploded.

"That was fun," Harley trilled, eyes glued to the rising cloud of dust.

"Hmm," Ivy nodded her agreement, as her nephew's eyes widened in horror at what had almost occurred.

"Those guys almost died," he murmured, loud enough to be heard by the older women.

"Oh, Wally," Ivy encircled her arm around his shoulders, "It's fine."

"But we almost killed them," he insisted.

Harley shrugged, as Ivy shushed him, "They knew the risks when they chose to work for a company that endangers the environment."

"Besides," Harley chirped, "They're fine now."

"Yeah," Wally murmured, as the pair started to direct him away from the crime scene before the police or, worse, Batman, showed up.

They got him back to their current hideout, this time an old apartment building that had been condemned years ago. It was a little shaky, but, with a couple of vines and a few small trees to shore up the structure, it was livable.

Ivy sent him to bed, despite his vehement objections, where he slept fretfully, waking intermittently throughout the night from nightmares in which Wally had not heard the screams until it was too late.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next several years, Poison Ivy and Thorn wreaked havoc on Gotham City. They targeted any corporation threatening the environment, destroying factories, warehouses, and, on one memorable occasion, holding an entire skyscraper hostage as they sought to change the mind of a particularly stubborn executive in regards to how he dealt with toxic waste.

They crossed paths with Batman and Robin, along with several other vigilantes, in their misadventures, winning some confrontations, losing others. On the occasions when they lost, Ivy would be sent to Arkham Asylum, whilst Wally would spend weeks in a juvenile institution, having specialists attempt to determine whether or not he was criminally insane, as was his aunt, or merely led astray by a trusted relative.

Escape generally came soon enough. Usually only one of the duo would be captured at a time, and the other would release them within a week. On the one occasion when both were imprisoned, Ivy was lucky enough for the Joker to orchestrate a mass breakout (something which may possibly have been aided by Harley's involvement).

Harley herself rarely joined them after their first adventure, always preferring to stand by her Puddin'.

On this particular date, however, she had chosen to provide aid.

"Little Red?" Harley whispered loudly, entering the small grove in the forested region of Robinson Park, "You here?"

"Aunt Harley!" Wally grinned, jumping down from a low tree branch to embrace her.

"Whee!" She squealed, as the fifteen year old lifted her clear off the ground, waiting until he set her down before continuing, "How you been, kiddo?"

"Not great," he admitted reluctantly, "Aunt Ivy was arrested four days ago."

"I heard," Harley nodded, turning away from Wally as she started poking around the small enclosure of plants he had made for himself, "What happened?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "She went out on some mission and lost a fight with Batman. My briars had a root fungus and I was out of it dealing with sympathetic symptoms."

Harley hummed her acceptance, before telling the chlorokinetic what she'd come to say, "Puddin's planning something. Tomorrow. It's gonna be big."

Wally nodded, well aware of what she was saying. With the police department and Batman distracted by the clown, he'd be able to slip into Arkham and free Ivy without any trouble.

He frowned though, "How big?"

Harley smiled proudly, "Big enough to get the whole of Gotham watching."

Wally honestly wasn't sure if he liked the sound of that.

* * *

Hours later, after Harley had left him to his grove, Wally tried to plan Ivy's escape. His thoughts constantly interrupted, however, by images of the Joker. Flashes of death of destruction as the hellish clown wreaked his own special brand of mayhem.

Wally, despite his status as a 'super-villain', considered himself and his aunt as environmental activists. Their actions may have been extreme, illegal, and outright destructive at times, but they all served a purpose. Thorn and Poison Ivy acted to better the world for plants.

The Joker was just a lunatic who liked to kill people in the most extravagant, and usually bloodiest, ways imaginable, all in what amounted to a gigantic game he believed himself to be playing with Batman.

Tomorrow, the Joker was planning something, likely involving kidnapping, torture and murder (his three favorite things besides explosives). Wally wasn't sure what exactly it would entail, but, thanks to Harley, he knew where it would be.

The police didn't know. The victims didn't know. Batman didn't know. Wally did.

Wally saw himself as an anti-hero, on an (at times) noble quest to save the environment. He didn't kill people, and, in all honesty, he wasn't sure if he could stand by and let innocent people be harmed when he knew he could do something.

Fretfully, he shook the thoughts from his head. Tomorrow, Wally was using the Joker's distraction to free Aunt Ivy. That was what was important. End of story.

* * *

Wally was waiting at Arkham Asylum the moment the sun began to rise, ready and waiting on the same grassy knoll that he had years before, a radio in his hand that would alert him to when the Joker began his rampage.

Wearing only a pair of old jeans, ripped in places, grass stains in others, he spent the morning soaking up sunlight through every inch of his exposed skin, ensuring that he would be at the peak of his power when the time came.

He watched, for hours, as guards came and went about their shifts, a transport vehicle arriving to drop off some new inmates, he even caught a glimpse of his aunt in the exercise yard at one point.

Through it all his ears were pricked, listening intently to every word spewed out by the radio, just waiting for the words 'special news bulletin'.

It neared three in the afternoon when he finally heard it.

_"All across Gotham, citizens are panicking,"_ the radio informed Wally, _"As the Joker has been confirmed as the culprit behind the disappearances of ten, no, eleven children as of this morning."_

_"The children,"_ the broadcaster continued, _"Were taken almost simultaneously from various points throughout the city, and seem to share no connections other than the fact that they are all caucasian teenagers, aged between twelve and fourteen years old, with ebony hair and ties to gymnastic institutions."_

Wally frowned, curious about what the Joker was doing, before the pieces clicked in his mind.

About a year ago, the Joker had spontaneously developed an obsession with learning the Batman's secret identity, and began randomly kidnapping men matching his body type off the street in an attempt to find him. It seemed that he was doing the same thing, only now he was after Robin.

For a moment, Wally was shocked. He'd been expecting explosions, robberies, maybe the murder of a government official or two. He didn't think Joker'd be going after kids.

Wally shook his head clear, it didn't matter what Joker was doing. Batman would deal with the clown. He was going to free Ivy...

But, Batman didn't know where the Joker was, did he?

Wally frowned. No, he wasn't going down that direction... but, well, it would take even the Batman's legendary intellect some time to find him, and everyone knew the damage the Joker could do in just five minutes, let alone a couple of hours.

And it's not like these were grown men, these were kids. Hell, according to the radio at least two of them were girls! Innocent kids... trapped with the Joker... who thought that one of them was Robin...

Wally's head slumped. Poison Ivy could wait, the kids couldn't. Turns out he was willing to defend more than just plants.

* * *

Getting through Gotham wasn't exactly easy for a barefoot green dude, especially when said green dude was a known eco-terrorist. But, by 'convincing' (and by 'convincing' I mean 'kissing and releasing a paralytic toxin into') the first motorcyclist he could find (thankfully a woman) to relinquish her leather jacket, her bright red helmet, and her vehicle, Wally was suitably covered and roaring down the city streets in no time.

Wally motored through the docks on his way to the warehouse district, breaking about seventeen different traffic laws on his way, speeding around corners and in and out of traffic with an expertise that only comes from all of your previous driving experience being from escaping and evading law enforcement.

He wondered, briefly, as he made his way to the Joker's lair, how this little incident would reflect on him in future escapades. After all, the criminals of Gotham sort of had an unwritten code, wherein, unless you want to spend the next ten years looking over your shoulder and jumping at shadows, you don't interfere with someone else's crime of choice. Wally figured that stopping the Joker from killing a bunch of kids counted as interfering, but decided that he'd just worry about it later.

The motorcycle skidded to a rough stop, with rubber burning against the asphalt, in front of the old 'Tidbits and Giggles' storage facility, and Wally looked around warily. They were in the middle of the warehouse district, which meant that the chances of a garden were minimal at best.

"I still can't believe I'm doing this," Wally moaned softly as he hurried to the side of the building, ditching the bulky helmet as he went.

Noting that entering through the front door would likely result in him getting somehow killed, Wally scooted round the side, finding a fire escape beginning just two meters above his head.

He looked around for a crate or a ladder, anything to help him reach his potential entry point, before he noticed a small crack in the asphalt where a tiny tuft of dandelions were poking through.

Wally grinned, and the small growth began to increase in size, asphalt cracking around it as the root system was strengthened and the stalk swiftly surpassing Wally's head, soon reaching the beginnings of the fire escape with little difficulty.

"And they call you guys weeds," he cooed to the plant, before shimmying up the stalk, grabbing onto the wrought iron structure, pulling himself up before moving onto the ladders.

Reaching the top of the warehouse, Wally peered in through one of the skylights, catching sight of the Joker's setup.

The ten kids were lined up in the center of the empty building, all of them bound, gagged, and lying helplessly on the floor as the Clown Prince of Crime himself paced around them, ranting from the looks of it. Harley herself was off to one side and, from the looks of it, she was supposed to be watching the perimeter, but was instead focussing on staring adoringly at her Puddin'.

Wally shuddered. Grown ups having relationships were just wrong, Harley and the Joker downright gave him the wiggins.

He shook his head clear of disturbing images, focussing on the kids below. Most of them were random faces, two or three baring maybe a passing resemblance to the Boy Wonder. He noted that he kind of recognized a few of them. One of the kids was on T.V. a few months back, when Wally had awaited Ivy to free him from the Gotham Juvenile Detention center, the other was Bruce Wayne's ward.

_'Richard, but not Richard,'_ he thought idly, '_Rick?'_

Wally moved on, the kid's name didn't matter, turning his focus on the rest of the room as he sought out something he could use. His eyes passed over an old conveyer belt setup, a number of large crates, a crowbar lying around and... there! In the corner!

Wally's lips pulled into a grin, "Perfect."

A grunt caught his attention, and Wally noted, with a wince, that Rick had spat out his gag, and had just earned himself a solid kick to the ribs. He sucked a breath in slowly through his teeth. That looked painful.

_'Moving on,'_ Wally thought, as he focussed his attention on opening the skylight, noting the padlock with mild amusement, _'I wonder if it's ironic that Aunt Harley's the one who taught me to pick locks in the first place?'_

* * *

Dick Grayson breathed deeply through his nose as the pain in his ribs dulled marginally, forcing himself to refrain from cussing the Joker out for fear of drawing more of the maniac's ire.

_'Where the hell's Bruce?'_ He thought miserably, wishing that he wasn't the one currently hogtied, _'Why couldn't _he_ be the one who needs rescuing, just this once!'_

But, of course, _he_ had to be the one kidnapped in his civilian identity. Again! What, was he giving off a telepathic signal to the Gotham criminal element? 'Helpless child! Huge ransom available! Kidnap please!'

Dick's internal ramblings cut off midstream when a glint of light caught his eye, drawing his attention to the skylight in the roof, where the glass plane was slowly being jiggled open.

_'Who the hell...?'_ He wondered, knowing that Batman would never be so sloppy, as the window opened, and Dick saw the silhouette of a green figure throw something, which dispersed into pieces, to the ground, somehow managing to avoid the Joker's attention.

The green threw him a bit, as Robin was well aware that the Martian Manhunter would have simply entered through the walls, not bothering with a window. Green Arrow maybe? No, Dick was certain that he'd seen the outline of a leather jacket, so Ollie was out.

_'Did Ollie and Dinah have a kid that I don't know about?'_ He asked silently, before the figure finally moved out of the sun's rays, giving him a decent look, which only served to confuse him even more. '_Is that... Thorn?'_

Dick frowned, positive that he had to be misunderstanding things. Why would Thorn be sneaking around the Joker's lair?

Dick didn't have time to consider that line of inquiry further, as the appearance of green off to the side drew his eye, and he, along with everyone else present, was witness to the sudden growth of a small forrest appearing out of the exposed dirt in the eastern corner.

"Huh."

* * *

Wally watched with rapt concentration as his fistful of seeds began to grow, forming sinewy vines that reached out into the air, grasping at everything it could touch as Wally carefully directed them to grab the Joker.

"What are you doing, Ivy?" The Clown hollered, facing the vines as they writhed towards him, "I'm working here. Honestly, Harls, control your little friend before I turn her into mulch!"

"But, Red's still locked up in Arkham," Harley told him, looking at the growing vegetation in fear and confusion, addressing empty space as she called out, "Little Red? Are you there? What's going on, kiddo?"

Wally was almost saddened by the way his honorary aunt was actually scared of what was going on, but pushed through it as a number of his vines lashed out, latching onto the Joker's limbs, ripping away his prized carving knife.

"I didn't order the salad bar!" He yelled, struggling futilely in the plants' grip as the vines lifted him from the ground, "I just wanted the chicken!"

Harley leapt to her Puddin's defense, something Wally truly wished she hadn't done, as it forced him to restrain her also, though she certainly put up a much better fight than her lover.

Under Wally's direction, the vines hauled the criminally inclined clowns to the eastern wall, pinning them there as several appendages stretched up to the skylight.

Wally hopped in through the window, grabbing onto the vines easily with one hand, propping his foot against it as he slid down to ground level, crouching when he hit the ground to absorb the impact.

Harley and the Joker tried to respond to the appearance of Thorn in their midst, but Wally flicked his wrist as soon as they began, causing vines to tighten around their mouths, effectively gagging them.

With them taken care of, Wally walked over to the nearest of the kidnapped children and got to work untying them.

It kind of hurt, when he approached them, how they flinched away from him, but, he supposed, that was the price you pay when you become a known super-criminal.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he tried saying, as a vine reached out towards him and he knelt down to the child's level. It was one of the girls, he noted idly, and, as the vine met his hand, he coaxed it into growing a soft red rose.

"Here," he told her kindly, plucking the rose from its stem and placing it under the girl's nose, "Harmless."

She seemed to accept that, only for her eyes to widen in horror as, from the same vine which had sprouted the rose, a dagger-like thorn began to grow.

"Relax," Wally said softly, tugging the thorn free of the vine, before using it to cut through the girl's bonds, "I'm just horrible with knots."

She and the others calmed down considerably at that, and Wally soon had most of them freed. As he worked on the last one, 'Rick Wayne', though he may have been mistaken, someone asked him, "Why are you helping us?"

Wally cut the final strand of rope and looked at the crowd of ebony haired kids. He answered simply, "I'm not a bad guy."

He left almost immediately after, long before the police even knew where the Joker had been hiding, giving his vines leave to grow as they pleased and simply walking out the door, reclaiming the stolen motorcycle (canary yellow with scarlet red highlights which, for reasons Wally couldn't explain, somehow felt right) and driving off into the city, wondering all the while if he could still get to Arkham and free his aunt without too much trouble.

* * *

He didn't free her. With both the Joker and Harley on their way back to Arkham, security was quadrupled, a miracle given the overworked staff, and Wally's original methods of simply using overwhelming force hadn't been all that effective since the security guards started carrying flamethrowers.

Instead, he took his new bike (yes, he was keeping it) back to Robinson Park, where he tucked the bike deep in the brush and ducked himself back into his grove, only to find it occupied.

"Why did you stop the Joker?" The dark figure asked in a gravel tone that Wally had stopped being scared of years ago.

"Why do you care?" He asked, shrugging back into the leather jacket he had begun to remove, preparing to run. Now that he was looking, he could sense Robin in the trees around them, way too close to... wait.

"Hey!" Wally shouted, flashing an arm in the Boy Wonder's direction. Robin gave a startled 'eep' as the branch he'd been standing on suddenly moved out from under him, another limb reaching out to catch him as he begun to fall. "No touchie my stuff!"

Robin grinned cheekily, dangling from his ankles between Thorn and Batman, a few scattered magazines, some candy bars and an old Nintendo DS dropping to the floor below him.

"Pokemon?" Robin asked, pointing to the gaming device.

"Duh," Wally rolled his eyes.

"You went with Bulbasaur, didn't you?" He grinned cheekily, noting that a slight red tinge was rising in Thorn's usually green cheeks.

"And I'm guessing all of yours are flying or fighting?" Wally returned.

"...maybe," Robin said evasively, pouting mildly. He hadn't realized he was quite that predictable.

A low growl from Batman distracted the teens, as they remembered where exactly they were.

"Why are you here?" Wally asked, noting that Batman was holding a small flamethrower in his hand, which meant that trying to fight would not end pleasantly. "I haven't done anything wrong... recently."

"Why did you stop the Joker," Batman asked again.

"Yeah," Robin nodded, still dangling. "That was unexpected, and Bats kind of hates being surprised by super-villains."

"I'm not a super-villain," Wally said forcefully, the trees around him bristling as they felt his irritation.

"You're a meta-human who breaks the law on a regular basis," Batman informed him.

"That kinda qualifies you for a super-villain," Robin said simply.

Wally frowned, "But I'm not like _them_. Ivy and I are trying to make the world better for the environment, the Joker's just a monster."

"Okay, sure," Robin agreed, not really looking at Thorn as he pulled himself up so that he could see about releasing himself, "But you've never foiled his plans before. Why now?"

The emerald skinned teen was silent for a moment, before deciding it was safe to answer, "Harley showed up here yesterday and told me that the Joker was planning something. I was going to use it as a distraction to break into Arkham until I heard what it was."

Even with the cowl, Wally could tell that Batman was raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well it's not like I was gonna let him carve up a bunch of kids looking for Bird Boy!"

Batman and Robin watched as Thorn then proceeded to pinch the bridge of his nose, muttering about how he shouldn't have kept the bike because the thing probably had a GPS thing on it and _of course_ they'd track him down.

As the chlorokinetic continued with berating himself, the Dynamic Duo shared a look, Robin momentarily abandoning his attempts at escape as he clasped his hands together in front of him and mouthed 'please' several times.

Behind the mask, Bruce Wayne sighed, he couldn't do what Dick was asking. He didn't have the authority.

"The police are on their way," he told the green boy, who nodded knowingly, "Are you going to come quietly?"

"Yeah," Thorn said dully, as the sound of sirens reached his ears, "Sure, whatever."


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm telling you, Bruce, he'll do it!"

"He can't be trusted."

"He saved my life!"

"And has committed uncountable acts of terrorism."

"In the name of environmentalism! We're not talking about a cold-blooded murderer, here, Bruce!"

"It's not going to happen."

"Well who else are you going to get? I'm too young, remember?"

"Miss Martian's shapeshifting abilities will allow her to-"

"Enter Belle Reve as a new prisoner," Dick finished mockingly, "And, of course, everyone'll let the newbie with no rep in on their elaborate schemes!"

"Artemis has connections through her father that will grant her credibility as a villain and-"

"We can't ask Arty to screw up her civilian life by being arrested!"

"Superboy could-"

"No."

"Aqualad-"

"Is a worse choice than Superboy!" Dick exclaimed, "Can you picture him trying to act like a bad guy? He's too nice."

"Thorn's got the reputation," he continued, "He's enough of an escape risk that the League could get him transferred to Belle Reve without any questions, and you and I both know that he'll do it if we ask! He's a good guy!"

Bruce stared at his protégé and ward stone faced, trying to come up with an argument that would have Dick let the idea go.

It really was ironic that this discussion would never have been necessary had Wally West gone down the path to become 'Kid Flash', rather than growing into 'Thorn', as, due to his machinations as 'Thorn', Wally had inadvertently inspired Tommy and Tuppence Terror to begin their lives of villainy several years earlier than they otherwise would have.

This had led to them being arrested for the first time at the age of fourteen, and they were currently awaiting the completion of their sentence in just another three months.

Consequently, Tommy and Tuppence Terror could not serve as disguises for Superboy and Miss Martian to infiltrate the Belle Reve Maximum Security Penitentiary, leaving the Justice League in something of a pickle, and allowing Robin to pitch his idea.

Batman, with limited options, five ice-themed criminals rapidly approaching Belle Reeve, and Robin dangerously close to pouting, reluctantly agreed.

* * *

Wally couldn't say that he was all that surprised when he got word that he was being transferred to Belle Reve Penitentiary. Not when Poison Ivy had just escaped Arkham the day before.

No, what surprised him was that he was currently being carted off to the Gotham Juvenile Detention Centre visitor's room. Thorn only ever got two visitors. One of them was annoying, the other was terrifying.

It was difficult for him to even get into the visitor's room given that the guards all refused to get close enough to touch him, so, even when he was finally herded through the door, none of them moved in to release him from his handcuffs.

Sitting at the table provided, Wally waited, hands bound uncomfortably behind his back, until the door opened again, this time to allow the entry of three colourfully dressed individuals.

Wally sighed in relief. This was just the annoying visitor, though why Robin'd brought friends was a complete mystery.

"Hi, Wally," Robin chirped.

Wally groaned as the blonde archer behind the Boy Wonder snickered.

"I see why you switched it to 'Thorn'," she told him with a smirk.

"Whatever," Wally grumbled, before eyeing the dark-skinned Aqualad, "You bring extras for the weekly Pokemon battle, Rob?"

"Not today," the acrobat said cheerily, slouching in the free seat across from Thorn, "We've got an offer for you."

Wally's eyebrow raised in curious disbelief.

"We require your assistance," Aqualad informed him.

Wally's eyebrow raised further.

"Look, here's the deal," Robin explained, "You're going to Belle Reve this afternoon-"

"I take it you had something to do with that?"

"...maybe."

Groaning, Wally dropped his head, "Continue."

"As of today," Aqualad proceeded diplomatically, "Five criminals, each with powers over ice, have gone to extraordinary lengths to become incarcerated there. We suspect that they are planning a mass breakout."

"And?"

"We want you to spy on them," Artemis finished casually.

Wally frowned, peering at them disbelievingly, "You want me to go in and snitch?"

"We prefer 'spy'," Robin told him, "It sounds cooler."

"This is true," Wally admitted thoughtfully, "But... no thanks. It's been hard enough in here ever since I stopped the Joker, I don't want to add 'snitch' to my repertoire."

"Come on," Robin wheedled, "All you've gotta do is get Icicle Jr. talking, maybe Captain Cold or Mr. Freeze... you'll reduce your sentence and no one will even have to know it was you!"

"Wait," Wally froze, "Icicle Jr.'s the one I'd be spying on?"

Artemis, Aqualad and Robin shared a confused look, before reluctantly admitting, "Yes."

Thorn turned introspective for a moment, before saying, "I'm tempted, knocking Cameron down another peg or two is always fun, but... no thanks."

"Wally," Robin tried, "Come on. Think about it, if these guys manage a mass breakout of Belle Reeve, there'll be about five hundred odd super-villains roaming the streets. And not the nice kind like you and your aunt. We're talking the Riddler, Icicle Sr... murderers and monsters of all sorts. Can you really sit back and let them go free?"

Wally again turned introspective, squirming a little as he tried to avoid the three sets of eyes staring at him.

"And, if you don't," Robin grinned, "Marissa Heller's almost got enough signatures for her petition."

Wally was suddenly ramrod straight, eyes widened in fear.

"I'm in," he said quickly, "Now get me the hell out of here!"

Artemis frowned, "Who's Marissa Heller?"

It was a fact of life that just about every public figure will draw a certain following, people who are, essentially, 'true believers' of the individual's ideologies and personal philosophies. Commonly, many of these people are termed 'crazies'. Wally was one such person where his aunt was concerned, as Harley was for the Joker.

Given that Thorn was an attractive (if exotic) young man who often committed daytime crimes without a shirt on with arguably noble environmental goals and a developing reputation as an anti-hero, Wally had managed to draw a small but loyal following of fans.

One of these fans was Marissa Heller, an environmental blogger who had convinced herself that everything Wally had done in the past several years, up to and including granting himself his meta-human abilities, had all been to show his support for her cause, despite the fact that 'Thorn' had actually gained his powers just over three weeks before her first post.

Her petition, which in actuality had absolutely no chance whatsoever of being enforced, was meant to allow Thorn and her to enjoy conjugal visitation rights, despite the fact that both were underage and were not legally married. Not that Wally knew this, of course.

"Scary girl," was all Wally would say about her.

"Then let's get you to Belle Reve," Robin chirped happily, standing to leave, before turning back quickly, "Oh, I should warn you, due to the higher percentage of female security guards at Belle Reve, they can't afford to ensure that only males are assigned to deal with you, so they're going to be insisting that you wear a muzzle."

"Say what!" Wally yelled as Robin shuffled Aqualad and Artemis out the door, signaling to the guards that Thorn was ready for transfer.

* * *

Less than a day later, Wally was cursing out everyone and everything that he had ever come into contact with.

Being in Belle Reve, he could deal. He wasn't all that worried about the other inmates. There were very few people who would risk messing with Poison Ivy without a damn good reason.

The power dampener around his neck, however, had a few upgrades from the previous model. Namely that the Belle Reve design doubled as a shock collar. Wally was rapidly getting sick of that.

To add to that, he was rooming with Cameron Mahkent, a.k.a. 'Icicle Jr.', who was, to Wally at least, possibly the most irritating individual on the face of the earth. This, combined with the fact that his muzzle was stopping him from saying some colourful variation of 'shut the hell up', was doing absolutely nothing for his mood.

Honestly, you dose a female guard with pheromones and convince her to help you escape two or three times and they never trust you again! It was ridiculous is what it was!

"I'm telling ya, Thorn," Junior went on from the top bunk, Wally fuming below him, "Stick with me and you'll be fine."

It bothered him because, well, Junior was an arrogant prick, the result of being born a meta-human, only for your father (when he wasn't incarcerated) to constantly espouse the power of the abilities you had inherited.

Granted, Wally was also an arrogant prick. But, unlike Junior, who was all brawn and only had the brainpower to back up about a quarter of what he said, Wally was usually smart enough to follow through on what he promised.

"C'mon, Thorn," Junior told him, noting that the electronic doors had opened, "Cafeteria's open."

Behind the muzzle, Wally smiled. At least the food at Belle Reve was definitely better than the GJDC.

* * *

Wally worked his jaw as soon as he reached the cafeteria, the guards having been forced to remove it so that he could actually eat. Granted, the guards had done so whilst wearing full hazmat suits, but still.

He followed Junior as they got themselves food, attempting to fully abuse his recently regained power of speech as Icicle tried to explain the system of 'the Alpha Dog'.

"I know the drill, Cam," Wally told him sufferingly, "I _have_ been in prison before."

"Yeah," Junior laughed dismissively, "But this is the first time that Aunt Hot Chili Pepper hasn't been right behind you to bail you out."

Wally frowned, realizing that, for possibly the first time, Cameron may have had a point. The past month had been the longest period he'd ever been incarcerated during his entire career as an 'environmental activist'. And, now that he was in Belle Reve, he kind of doubted Ivy's ability to bust him out. Harley, maybe, but Wally was fairly certain that he'd be off her Christmas list for the next year or so.

"You need to learn how to handle prison in the longterm," Cam continued idly.

"Sure," Wally admitted with a mild smile towards the psychotic cryokinetic, "And us chromatically challenged, underaged, super criminals have to stick together."

"Exactly," Cam nodded, directing Wally towards a group of older men, "First thing to do... pay tribute to the big dog."

As they spoke, the green and blue duo reached Blockbuster and Brick, who, quite frankly, almost had both of them wetting themselves. Thankfully they stood aside as a courtesy to 'the Big Dog' of the men's wing of Belle Reve Penitentiary: Icicle Sr.

"Thorn," the large man said lowly, completely ignoring his son, "I've heard stories about you."

"Well... that's nice?" Wally tried, before taking in the two men on either side of him, recognizing both as two of the other three cryokinetics he was here to spy on.

"Yes," Senior drawled, "Interfering with the Joker's plans? How... out of character for Poison Ivy's protégé."

Wally shrugged, "The guy wanted to carve up a bunch of kids. I'm a crook, not a monster."

"He was trying to ferret out the Boy Wonder," Senior informed him, "Casualties would certainly have been acceptable."

Noting that Blockbuster and Brick were closing in, Wally started getting extremely nervous.

"You realize that I can spit at you, right?" He pointed out, realizing that Junior had stepped aside and that the lights had just been blocked out by the towering monsters.

Brick cracked his knuckles. Blockbuster was unreactive.

Wally hocked a gob, nailing Blockbuster in the chest, who suddenly realized why Thorn had been wearing a muzzle to begin with. Brick was next, falling limply to the ground for possibly the first time in his life.

Wally was then shocked senseless by his collar for illegal use of meta-human abilities, regretting only that he'd been zapped unconscious before he got to eat.

* * *

"Did you know he could do that?" Artemis asked, several hours later as she and several others reviewed the security tapes.

"We did," Kaldur admitted tiredly, "That's why he wears the muzzle around the guards. He can manipulate the toxicity in his saliva to produce a variety of effects, and, as it is an intrinsic part of his unnatural physiology, the inhibitor collar is unable to nullify it."

"It's annoying as hell to get hit with it, I'll tell you that," Robin told her, shuddering at the memory.

They winced in sympathy as the shock collar around Thorn's neck zapped him unconscious.

"Are we certain that Thorn will be able to salvage the mission after this?" Kaldur asked.

Artemis nodded absentmindedly, "Cameron'll've been amazed by that little display, and Senior can't _not_ pull him into his crew now. The potential for having a functioning meta at your disposal is pretty much priceless in prison."

Artemis then realized exactly what she'd said and who was listening.

"Uh," she choked, "So I hear, that is. And, Junior, his name is Cameron, right? I think I saw that in the files somewhere..."

Kaldur and Robin didn't buy it. Thankfully, though, _they_ were good enough actors to let the archer believe that they had.

* * *

A day later and Wally was fairly certain that he was screwed. He was trapped, you see, in Belle Reve Maximum Security Penitentiary, in the middle of a riot. Whilst the inhibitor collars were disabled.

This effectively destroyed Wally's previous advantage of maintaining the toxic properties of his spit as, well, now the meta-humans had him severely outnumbered and, honestly, Wally's power over plants was pretty much useless in a concrete building where the only vegetation were a pair of potted ferns in the therapist's office.

At least Junior had frozen the muzzle off his face.

"Take Blockbuster," Senior told his son, "And help Frost get the women in here."

Wally shifted his eyes uneasily between the father and son, deciding that he'd best follow Cam.

He watched, growing exponentially more nervous as Junior continually froze the wall separating the male and female wings of the prison, weakening it so that Blockbuster could work on breaking through it.

As he did this he considered exactly how he might manage to stop the breakout without getting his ass killed. Actually, at this point he'd probably settle for just surviving it.

Seeing Blockbuster create a crack in the ice cold concrete, he noted that the monster was still wearing his disabled inhibitor collar and formed the vague beginnings of a plan. His eyes fell on Cameron. All he'd have to do is convince him to go against his father.

Wally spat paralytic venom at Blockbuster, rendering him limp yet again.

"Dude!" Junior yelled, as the monster fell to the floor, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Cameron, I'm going to be honest with you," Wally said quickly, "I've known you for over three years now, and in that time you've done absolutely everything you can come up with to try and earn your dad's approval, but you're never going to get it because he's jealous that you were born with the powers he spent his adult life mimicking through technology."

"Right now," he continued, "You're willing to help him let five hundred odd super-villains out to wreak untold havoc on an unsuspecting population just because your dad wants you to. But are you really willing to let that happen?"

Icicle Jr. paused momentarily, allowing Thorn to continue.

"Help me turn the inhibitor collars back on," he pleaded, "Be your own man for once in your life!"

Junior, having finally processed what was being asked of him, promptly raised his arms and fired a blast of freezing energy at his green skinned adversary.

Thorn, having years of practical experience in avoiding Bat-a-rangs and a certain amount of training from Harley Quinn, managed to avoid it, barely, despite the chill that ran up his spine.

Time seemed to pause as Thorn and Junior's eyes met, both frozen as the gravity of the situation weighed down on them. Both knew that Wally was the only one in Belle Reve with both the desire and the ability to foil Icicle Sr.'s plans. Both also knew that, without access to plant life, Cameron had the distinct advantage.

Wally turned tail and ran, Cameron hesitating just a moment too long as he glanced sideways at first the downed Blockbuster and then the cracked wall, before taking off in hot pursuit.

* * *

Long past midnight, an armored transport vehicle sped down the highway, making the journey from the Belle Reve Penitentiary to a secure Justice League holding facility. The truck was flanked by three motorcycles, driven by a solemn, dark-skinned young man in his late teens, a blonde haired girl of Vietnamese heritage, and a muscularly built caucasian boy.

Within it, shackled to a seat in the bed of the truck, sat Wally West, the noted ecoterrorist 'Thorn', who was absolutely entranced by one of his fellow passengers, the equally verdant 'Miss Martian', who was politely attempting to rebuff his advances as Robin, the Boy Wonder, giggled into his closed fist.

"Seriously, though," Wally said pointedly, momentarily distracting himself from his plans to seduce the Martian, "This is hardly what I'd call a hero's welcome."

"What'd you expect, man?" Robin asked. "A ticker-tape parade?"

"I thought I'd get a little _recognition_," Wally pouted, "Some respect for my heroic actions."

"You outran some dude and pressed a button," Robin told him plainly.

"I outran some dude who was hurling icy death in my direction!" Wally reminded him heatedly, "I'm part plant, dude, and not the evergreens! Do you have any idea what cold does to me?"

"It was... very brave of you," Miss Martian offered nervously.

"Thank you, babe," Wally smiled, bowing in his head in her direction, not actually able to gesture in any other way. "I appreciate the support."

"Whatever, man," Robin smirked, watching as Thorn continued his efforts to woo the only woman alive to have a thumb as green as his that was not related to him. It was fun to watch if nothing else.

* * *

M'gann hadn't really been sure of what to think of the mission when Batman had assigned them guard duty. It had seemed something of a waste of resources to dedicate their time and energy to a simple prison transfer after all, but Robin insisted that Thorn's life may well have been at risk after his actions in Belle Reve, and that the chlorokinetic deserved their help.

Considering what he had done for them, M'gann was inclined to agree, but, after an hour in his presence, she was growing weary of his constant attempts at what Artemis laughingly assured her was 'flirting'. As it turned out, when your only company during your formative years is an environmental nut and a clown, your social skills tend to suffer.

It was why she was so thankful when the prison transport vehicle arrived at their destination, a zeta-tube dock in southern Louisiana, where Thorn would be sent to a secure facility in Star City.

As the truck pulled to a stop, she smiled and waved Robin out ahead of her, so that the so called 'ninja' of the team could aid the others in scanning the area before they began to move the prisoner.

"You know, you don't have to smile for me," Thorn told her suddenly, his voice much more... subdued, than it had been when Robin was present.

"What?" M'gann asked, her smile never dimming in her confusion.

"You don't have to pity me," he said, eyes downcast at the floor of the truck.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought that you'd understand, being green an' all," Thorn told her, his voice cynical and quiet, as though a lump had formed in his throat, "But it's not the same."

"I don't understand," M'gann repeated softly.

"I've been green every day for almost four years now," Thorn explained tiredly, raising his head just barely enough to meet her eyes, gazing out from the slightest fringe of his scarlet hair, "I'm used to hearing the jokes people say behind my back. I'm used to people quoting scripture when they see me walking down the street..."

"You can shape-shift, can't you?" Thorn cut himself off, turning away as best he could, "If you don't like something about yourself you can just change it. I don't know what I was thinking, you probably don't even know what it means to look in the mirror and hate what you see."

Privately, and despite feeling something akin to shock, M'gann thought that that was only true here on Earth. Back on Mars, everyone was telepathic, so no matter what form you took, people would always know who and what you are no matter how hard you tried to hide. No matter how desperately you wished you could.

"No," she told him softly, "I know what that's like."

"It's just, I never even got to kiss a girl before all this," Thorn smiled self-deprecatingly, "I saw you and thought... maybe, someone who's just like me..."

M'gann felt a wave of empathy flood through her, recalling how she too had been ostracized and rejected because of what she was. Perhaps Thorn's experience wasn't quite the same as hers, but M'gann felt for him all the same.

And perhaps she didn't feel anything more than empathy for the plight of the emerald boy in the prison jumpsuit, perhaps she wished that she could instead be kissing a certain Kryptonian, but all he was asking for was that single kiss, and perhaps then Thorn would begin to feel the acceptance that she herself had longed for on Mars, and had found here on Earth. Given that it would cost her nothing, surely it was worth it?

Leaning in, M'gann made to peck him on his green tinged cheek, only for his head to twist unexpectedly, and Thorn captured her lips with his own.

* * *

Kaldur returned from his perimeter sweep at the same time as the others, confident that there were no aggressors in the immediate area and prepared to go through with the prison transfer, only to hear the sound of tearing metal erupt from the transport vehicle.

"M'gann?" Conner said questioningly.

"Miss Martian," Kaldur asked loudly, "What happened?"

A green skinned figure stepped out of the truck, dropping to the ground with a bounce and a ridiculous grin on his face, another, equally green, figure hovering directly behind him. Her face completely blank.

"She fell for the old 'it's not easy being green' routine," Thorn told them mockingly, spinning his disabled inhibitor collar around his index finger, "Granted, I had to mess with it a little since she's green too, but, hey, it still worked."

Kaldur's eyes widened in horror. M'gann's raw potential for telepathy made her one of the most powerful psychics on several worlds, making her extremely resistant to telepathic coercion. Thorn's hypnotic abilities, however, were entirely physical, relying on pheromones to induce a state of suggestibility in the victim. M'gann was just as vulnerable as anyone else.

A volley of Bat-a-rang's shot from the shadows, informing Kaldur of Robin's return to the group. The projectiles were stopped in midair by a gesture from M'gann.

"Bad Bird Boy," Thorn called out sternly, wagging a finger towards the sidekicks, a grin working its way onto his face, "Miss Martian, get'em."

M'gann's arms shot upwards, and Kaldur found himself being hurled from the ground at speed, sent flying directly into Conner's impervious form as the Martian clapped her hands thunderously.

Artemis and Robin then appeared from the surroundings, plucked from the earth by the telekinetic alien and separated from their various weapons while Thorn watched cheerily.

"So, Robin," he said, gesturing for M'gann to bring the Boy Wonder closer, "Seriously, you're welcome for Belle Reve, and thanks for getting me out of there, but I think I'll take care of myself from here."

"Miss Martian," he asked kindly, "If you'd please knock them out."

M'gann nodded blankly, her eyes glowing white for a brief moment as she telepathically induced sleep in each of her teammates.

"Perfect, Babe," Thorn grinned, "Now, if you could just go to sleep yourself, that'd be great."

M'gann lowered herself to the ground, landing lightly on her toes before she slowly lay herself down.

"And, seriously, Beautiful," he told her, as she closed her eyes and consciousness began to slip through her fingers, "Thanks for the kiss. It was totally out of this world."

* * *

Two days later, after having wandered deep into the Louisiana Bayou, Thorn was finally tracked down by an uncharacteristically pissed off Martian girl and her equally affronted team, spearheaded by an unsurprisingly angry Kryptonian teen.

He'd had a brief advantage, being in the middle of a marsh and all and, thus, surrounded by more plant life than he knew what to do with, but, frankly, he was doomed going in and he knew it. He did manage to put up a somewhat decent fight, but by the end of it he had a body that more resembled purple than green and a severely bruised ego.

"This is just plain ridiculous," Wally complained loudly in his captor's ears, handcuffed, an inhibitor collar in place, and hovering several feet above the ground, curled into the fetal position in order to protect certain appendages from view, "You couldn't've at least let me get _dressed?!_"

Aqualad and Superboy, both several meters away from the group as they waited for the Bio-Ship to track them down, didn't react to Thorn's whining. Robin and Miss Martian, both much nearer to the green skinned teen, continued to blush heavily as they fervently looked anywhere and everywhere else.

"You shouldn't've been naked," Artemis returned casually, eyeing his exposed flesh with a lazy smile on her face. Thorn may've been a super-criminal, but, hey, eye candy was eye candy. "Don't know why a green kid'd want a full body tan anyway."

"Gee, _sorry_," he intoned sarcastically, head turning to face the blonde, "In case you didn't notice, I've just spent the past few months in one prison cell or another with about as little sunlight as you can get, and I _happen_ to be part _plant!_"

"So?" The archer asked, barely paying attention to his little rant.

"I _photosynthesize!_" He yelled, "I've been _starving_ for _months!_"

"You should've said something," Robin said awkwardly, eyes downcast as he made careful motions to avoid catching sight of things that would require him to coat his brain in bleach.

"I _tried_," Thorn bit out, "But, noooo, after you've escaped a couple of times, suddenly the wardens get real shy about letting you out in the yard for any longer than they have to."

"Your own fault then," Artemis told him simply, eyes tracing out the lines of the hovering teen's abdominal muscles, slowly moving their way south and not paying much attention as emerald cheeks started turning a muddy brown.

"Okay, that's it," he said loudly, "Could someone at least give me some leaves to cover my dignity?"

"No way in hell, Captain Chlorophyll," she replied, "We all know what you can do with a couple of leaves."

She found Thorn's guttural response to be fairly amusing, as bound hands strained to claw at something.

"I'm wearing an inhibitor collar!"

Her slight smile turning into a full blown grin as she realized she could see the Bio-Ship above the tree-line.


	4. Chapter 4

"Enjoy your stay here at Hotel Justice," Robin giggled lightly once Thorn was dressed in a new pair of pants, an inhibitor collar and a pair of handcuffs, the Boy Wonder having just led the chlorokinetic through the zeta-tubes and into the depths of the Mountain.

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be a thrill," Wally muttered, arms working furiously behind his back as he sought to wriggle himself free with little effect.

The computers announced as Artemis stepped through the portal, followed closely by Aqualad.

"Come," the Atlantean intoned calmly, "We will lead you to your cell. Until your life is no longer at risk within the general prison population, we will be housing you here."

"Fun," he replied in a deadpan, before twisting around, "Hey, where're Brood Boy and Sweet Cheeks?"

"Miss Martian's still trying to convince Superboy to _not_ rip your head off after what happened," Artemis told him plainly. Though she didn't show it, she was surprised by his almost regretful reaction.

"Yeah, about that," he said, almost apologetically, "If you could _never_ mention that to my Aunt, I'd really appreciate it."

Robin cocked his head to the side, before asking simply, "Why?"

"She's got this weird double standard when it comes to manipulating the opposite sex," Thorn groaned, "_So_ annoying. Last time I did it she threatened to turn me into mulch."

"Good to know," Artemis said, clearly bored, as Aqualad began to lead Wally to the promised cell.

Rounding the corner out of sight, she heard him ask, "So, does this place have cable?"

* * *

His cell didn't really fit the description, Wally swiftly noted. There was a comfortable looking bed, a dresser (though it was empty), a desk, an adjoining bathroom and a TV mounted on one wall.

Granted, the door was locked and protected by three different passcodes, but still, it clearly wasn't designed for service as a cell.

If only there'd been a sunroof and a greenhouse, Wally might not've actually minded being imprisoned. Y'know, if it weren't for the company.

"...and I was thinking, people are always 'overwhelmed' or 'underwhelmed', so why couldn't they just be 'whelmed', you know?"

Wally momentarily paused in repeatedly pounding his head into the desk, looking up to glare menacingly at the Boy Wonder with the motor mouth that could put the Joker to shame.

"Why are you here?" He seethed.

Robin shrugged, obliviously as he lay on Wally's bed, "Bored."

"Don't you, I don't know," Wally muttered, "Have a _team_ that you could be bothering?"

"Nah," Robin waved him off, staring up at the roof, "Superboy and Miss Martian finally hooked up, and now they won't stop locking lips long enough to talk to anyone. Aqualad's cool, but he's just too unflappable for anything fun, and Artemis is out with Green Arrow or something. So, I though I'd come and give you some company!"

"Great," Wally moaned, turning back to continue trying to bash his brains in.

For about a minute or so, the 'cell' was silent other than the rhythmic pounding of Wally's skull against wood, before Robin asked.

"So... you like video games?"

Wally looked up, bored, but mildly curious, "Sure. Aunt Harley used to steal a Wii every now and then and she and I'd play Super Smash Bros."

Robin peered at him through the mask, "Yoshi?"

"Kirby," Wally rolled his eyes, "Don't assume just 'cause I'm green. I'm fairly sure that that's racist."

"Sorry," Robin shrugged, eyes moving to settle on the TV on the wall, a grin forming on his features, "I'll be right back."

"Whatever," Wally waved him out.

Five minutes later, Robin returned from parts unknown with a Wii console in hand, two controllers and a copy of 'Super Smash Bros Brawl'. He then proceeded to kick Thorn's virtual ass for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

When the door opened, Wally expected Robin to walk in, which, in all honesty, he wouldn't have minded.

It was odd, but he had never really had anything against the Boy Wonder to begin with. The both of them had accepted early on that their relationship was strictly professional, Thorn was a 'villain' and Robin was a 'hero', they battled on principle, not because of any personal beef. Taunts and insults were hurled across the battlefield, sure, but they were fired without any real malice and, recently, Wally had found himself developing an actual friendship with the younger boy.

He was a little disappointed to find the blonde harpy come into view.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, not cruelly, but hardly welcoming.

"Aqualad ordered me to," Artemis shrugged, taking a seat at the desk, crossing both her legs and her arms to make it painfully clear that she so very much did _not_ want to be there, "The others seem to think that I can empathize with you."

"Empathize?" Wally repeated, almost fearfully, as he raised his head from his pillow to look her in the eye.

She squirmed awkwardly under his gaze, before admitting, "My family aren't exactly shining examples of purity."

"Huh?"

"My dad's Sportsmaster," she elaborated.

Wally snapped up into a seated position, snapping his fingers gleefully, "You're _that_ Artemis? You're Cheshire's sister?"

He paused for a moment, an almost horrified expression appearing on his face as he recalled a certain piece of information, "You dated _Cam?_"

She jumped to her feet, cheeks suddenly aflame at the mention of Icicle Jr., "We had _one_ date! The movie sucked, his hands were cold, and he was arrested before we even made it to the restaurant!"

"Oh my God," Wally laughed, "I can't believe you _actually_ went out with him."

"I was young and stupid," Artemis said defensively, "And he wasn't always such an arrogant tool."

Wally didn't answer, as his laughter was making it impossible for him to speak.

"Shut up," she told him, crossing her arms across her chest, "Sheesh, I only even came in here because the others begged me to..."

"Yeah," Wally said through his giggles, finally regaining a semblance of control over his breathing, "They sent you in here to 'empathize' with me because, you too understand that a person can be lead astray by their family..."

It was a reasonable enough statement, or it would have been if not for the sarcasm dripping from each word.

"You people are all the same," he continued scornfully, "You all assume that Poison Ivy somehow managed to manipulate me into everything I've done, and I'm _really_ getting tired of it."

"Well it's not like she doesn't have a record of manipulating people," Artemis pointed out.

"Yeah," Wally rolled his eyes, "Except the pheromone thing works on lust, and I'm not _that_ twisted."

"Look," the archer said, "You can't blame us for thinking that. You were only, what, twelve when you started working for her? Did you even understand what was going on?"

"Of course I did," Wally muttered through grit teeth, "I was green, my parents were scared of me, and for the first time in my life I could actually _feel_ the plants around me crying out because of the poisons that infect them. Believe me, if you could feel what I feel you'd be doing the exact same thing."

Artemis glared at Thorn, who glared right back at her, before she gave up and turned back to the door.

"Fine," she said calmly, "You don't want my help. I didn't want to be here in the first place. Maybe now Robin and Kaldur'll stop breathing down my neck."

* * *

Four days after his flawless escape and relatively quick recapture in the Louisiana Bayou, Wally was napping peacefully in his cell when he was startled awake by the sounds of explosions detonating deep in the heart of the mountain.

Checking the clock to see that it was only three in the afternoon, and noting that the sounds were not continuing, Wally sleepily decided that he'd been dreaming and happily returned to Snoozeland, blissfully unaware of the invasion occurring above him.

* * *

"You can't be serious about this!?" Artemis hissed at her partner, as they crawled furiously through the ventilation system of the cave.

"Do you have a better idea?" Robin asked over his shoulder, "Kaldur, Conner and M'gann are out for the count and we need every bit of help we can get if we've got a chance against the Reds!"

"What makes you think he'll help us?" She pointed out, "For all we know these things are here to bust him out!"

"No way," he waved her off dismissively, "They've been here too long to be after him specifically. But they might take him out if they find out he's here. Thorn might not fight for us right now, but he'll sure as hell fight for himself."

Robin ceased communication at that point, hurrying down the small enclosure as he navigated his way towards the cell.

* * *

Wally jolted into consciousness the moment his cell door opened.

"Wha?" He said sleepily, blurry eyes taking in the figures of Artemis and Robin, both of whom were eyeing the outside hall warily, "Wha's going on?"

"You just got parole," Robin said blithely, tapping out a combination into his wrist mounted, holographic, keyboard, "Congratulations."

Wally felt a wave of relief flow through him as the inhibitor collar around his neck disengaged and he felt his mind reconnect to his chlorokinetic abilities. Relief that quickly turned to stunned disbelief.

"What the...?"

"Mount Justice is under attack," Robin explained, his talented fingers already working on getting into the cave's surveillance system, "We're kinda desperate for help right now."

"And if I say no?" Thorn asked, a smirk appearing as he pulled the disabled collar from his neck, standing to his full height, which, granted, was just barely above Artemis's own but still.

The archer already had an arrow drawn, "We prune you."

"What Artemis means," Robin stressed, eyes not looking away from his holographic console, "Is that these guys don't seem to be here to help you, and given your current relationship with the criminal crowd, don't you think we're a safer bet?"

"And people wonder why I'm hesitant to help you capes," Thorn muttered, before nodding his head, "Fine, I'll help. But I want an upgrade in here... a fern at the very least."

"We'll get you a bonsai tree," Robin promised, before crowing in triumph, "Finally."

The display hovering above his wrist began to play a scene of the hangar just ten minutes earlier, displaying the efficient methods of the two invaders as they succinctly disabled Superboy, Aqualad and Miss Martian.

"Whoa," Artemis whispered, as Robin nodded his agreement.

"I take that back," Thorn told them, eyeing the Reds with genuine fear in his eyes, "There is no way in hell I'm fighting those things."

"What!?"

"Dude, that thing's a _pyro!_" He exclaimed, pointing towards the vaguely feminine form, "I have powers over _plants!_ I go out there and all you're gonna have is the world's biggest supply of kindling!"

"Coward!" Artemis said accusingly.

"Not coward," Thorn replied through gritted teeth, "Realistic. They're _robots_ who command the elements! I got nothing!"

"Well get traught," Robin ordered, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out of the room, Artemis following behind, "The others are in danger, so it's all hands on deck."

"Except I'm not one of your 'hands'," Thorn reminded him, tugging himself free, "I'm not fighting a pyrokinetic robot!"

"You don't have to," Robin told him, grabbing the elder boy again and pulling him further down the hall, Artemis not far behind, "We can build an EMP generator and knock the things out without ever getting near them."

"Excuse me," Thorn said with a condescendingly calm tone, before turning to Artemis "Do you know how to make one of those things?"

"I don't think I even know what the hell it is," Artemis admitted casually.

"And you?" He turned to Robin.

"Well, no," the Boy Wonder admitted sheepishly, "I was kinda hoping that, being the super genius you are, you'd take care of that part."

"Yeah, robots?" Thorn said simply, "_So_ not my area of expertise. Chemistry? Sure. Botany? Definitely. Robots and technology? A big fat no."

"Helpful," Robin sighed, eyes again glued to his console as he sought to track the Reds' movements.

"Remind me again why the indestructible Kryptonian and the Martian powerhouse can't just pound these things into scrap metal?"

"Superboy's currently frozen in ice," Artemis explained, "All the strength in the world doesn't do you any good if you can't so much as twitch a single muscle."

"And Miss Martian?" Thorn asked.

"She's... incapacitated," Robin sighed, "Just the sight of fire is enough to render her catatonic, let alone being completely surrounded."

"...wait," Thorn stopped him, "_Fire_ is the big bad Martian's weakness? _Fire?_ For the love of God that's worse than _War of the Worlds!_"

"She can't help it," Robin explained tersely, "It's a primal fear."

"Of all the stupid-" Thorn halted his rant mid stream, "Wait, did you say 'primal fear'?"

Robin honestly wasn't sure he liked the look on his reluctant ally's face as he said that, but nodded regardless.

"Give me one of your weapons," he ordered, holding a hand out expectantly, snapping his fingers impatiently when the Boy Wonder hesitated. "Hurry up!"

Robin was hesitant, and Artemis was practically screaming at him not to do it from behind Thorn's back, but he eventually handed over a bird-a-rang, only to shiver in revulsion as the meta-human promptly dabbed his thumb and forefinger on his tongue and began to liberally coat the bladed edge in his own saliva.

"Knick her with this," he ordered Robin, "Get the pheromones into her bloodstream and we'll be able to override her fear."

"You're kidding me," Artemis deadpanned, "You're going to save us with your spit?"

"You got a better idea?" Thorn said smugly, "The pheromones work on lust, which, in my experience, beats fear, no contest, ten times outta ten."

"This is wrong on so many levels," Robin muttered, taking the weapon back gingerly.

Thorn shrugged, "But it'll work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to find a nice closet to wait all this out in. Maybe somewhere in the sub-basements."

"Don't even think about it," Artemis ordered, pinning him with a glare and the threat of arrows.

"You realize that I can turn the wood in your arrows against you?" Thorn asked, a smug smile on his face.

"You realize that I use carbon fiber rods?" Artemis replied, a sickly sweet grin on hers.

"Flirt on you own time, you two," Robin ordered, "We're in a _bit_ of a hurry here."

Neither offended party were sure of who to glare at, each other or Robin. They settled on both.

* * *

"I hate this."

"Should've thought of that before you agreed to help us," Artemis calmly informed the whining Thorn as they arrived silently at the entry to the hangar.

"I still don't get why I have to be here," he muttered, eyeing the door warily as Robin got to work on hacking it.

"You need to be here to control Miss Martian," Robin told him, "Duh."

"Why can't you do it?" Thorn asked irritably.

Artemis eyed him cautiously, "Because he doesn't have your powers?"

"So? Once the pheromones are in, Babylicious will respond to the first male voice she hears," he informed them, "So long as she has some degree of physical attraction towards him, the pheromones will amplify it to the point where she'll do anything he says."

"That's disturbing."

"But so very effective."

"Door's open," Robin alerted them, the keypad beeping its agreement as the metallic doors slid apart.

"Move!" Artemis ordered, shoving Thorn in ahead of her, right after the Boy Wonder.

"Gah!" Wally screamed at the sight of the Reds, one wreathed in flames and the other surrounded by water, both of whom staring blankly at the intruders.

Red Inferno took to the air, as Red Torpedo dove into the water flooding the lower levels.

Artemis launched a pair of arrows, one of which bounced harmlessly off of Red Torpedo's metallic exterior, the other incinerated midair, but they served their purpose, allowing Robin's toxin coated bird-a-rang to slip through the air unnoticed.

The small blade flew threw the flaming enclosure that surrounded the incapacitated Aqualad and Miss Martian, slicing a shallow cut into M'gann's shoulder.

"Miss Martian!" Thorn yelled from the entrance, "Destroy all robots!"

In Kaldur's tired arms, her eyes snapped open, arms raising ominously as she reached out with her powers.

Without the primal Martian fear of flame holding her back, the Reds really didn't stand a chance at that point.

* * *

Wally stood in the epicenter of the room at the end of the battle, musing with a quiet glee how _awesome_ it was to see a psychic alien babe obliterate elemental robots.

The automatons had been ripped apart by the telekinetic and circuits and shrapnel now littered the room, with maybe one or two major structures still intact.

He was alone. Artemis was busy working with Miss Martian (now free of Thorn's control and sending him withering glares every time his gaze wandered in her direction) to free Superboy, with Robin providing necessary aid to the dangerously dehydrated Aqualad.

With the team distracted, his eyes searched for an exit, finding only the Zeta-Tubes, which were a no go. No clearance equals no exit.

Idly wondering if he could summon any plant life through the thick concrete that coated the interior of the mountain, his attention strayed at the sound of a hangar door opening and, for a brief moment, Wally could feel sunlight on his skin again before Red Tornado took up his attention.

Various members of the team rushed to meet the aerokinetic android, but Wally wisely chose to pipe down and quietly back away, moving smoothly towards the still open hangar door. If he could get outside, he'd have the plants to help him. He _might_ be able to get away.

Wally didn't see what happened to set it off, all he knew was that in the next moment the cave was filled with gale force winds, circulating so quickly that it was impossible to draw a breath.

He dropped to his knees from both the wind and the lack of air, looking wildly around the room to see that everyone else was reacting in much the same way, all with the same level of sheer horror in their minds as they saw their mentor turn on them.

He saw how Aqualad was the first to drop to the floor unconscious, his Atlantean physiology making the task of breathing on land arduous to begin with and his recent bout of dehydration having sapped whatever strength reserves he may have possessed. Artemis and Robin weren't long behind, with Miss Martian and Superboy lasting marginally longer due to their alien biologies.

Wally himself was the last man standing. His own physiology had drastically altered with the administering of the formula, and he had since breathed Carbon Dioxide rather than Oxygen. This, among other things, allowed him to last perhaps a full minute longer than Superboy's Kryptonian lungs, a minute he put to use in crawling futilely towards the hangar door before he too succumbed to unconsciousness.

* * *

Barry Allen was a fast man, the fastest in fact. Quick with a quip and a comment, it was rare that he was caught off guard.

Wally West put him off guard.

Without even trying, the young eco-terrorist pushed the veteran vigilante off balance simply because, well, he was family. Barry hadn't really been all the close to his wife's nephew before he began his crusade to join Poison Ivy, but he'd liked the kid with the fascination for science and a thirst for knowledge that could never be quenched.

And now... now Barry was watching Bats reapply his nephew's inhibitor collar, simultaneously chewing out his own protégé for releasing him in the first place.

In all honesty, the speedster found himself feeling something akin to pride at that. Wally, or 'Thorn' as he preferred, had played an integral role in foiling the Joker's murderous rampage, prevented a mass breakout of Belle Reve Maximum Security Penitentiary, and in saving the lives of these young heroes.

It warmed his heart that Wally, despite his misguided methods, was something of a hero at his core, and it was something that Iris was always glad to hear.

Barry smiled when he heard Wally strike up an argument with Batman and Robin over a supposed 'deal' that dictated the terms of his help. Apparently he was now insisting on a rose bush to keep him company in the bedroom they were using for his cell whilst the Justice League worked to find more suitable accommodations for the teen delinquent who had managed to severely piss off a _very_ dangerous percentage of the criminal underworld.

He couldn't stop himself from joining in.

"Sounds pretty fair to me, Bats," Barry said calmly, striding into place alongside the infamous Dark Knight, "The kid deserves a little something for his troubles."

If he had been a lesser man, he would have sprinted away in sheer terror at the masked man's glare. Luckily, he was the Flash.

"Given Thorn's power set I can't see it as anything other than a security risk," Batman ground out.

"So?" Barry asked, "He's got the inhibitor collar, right? And besides, how much damage can he do with one bush and no soil?"

"He's right, you know," Wally interjected testily, "I can't do anything big with a potted plant. I need some serious soil to get the root systems for the good stuff."

Barry watched as Bruce eyed his nephew carefully, scanning for any traces of deceit, before finally stating simply, "I'll see what I can do."

With that, the caped vigilante turned and stalked away, Barry following not two seconds later after a glance at Wally, who was halfway between a smirk and a smile if he was any judge, and Robin who was full out grinning.

_'Huh, the kid made a friend,'_ Barry thought idly, _'Iris'll be glad to hear that.'_


	5. Chapter 5

"I've destroyed factories," Wally muttered as he stalked away from the Zeta-Beam transmitters, making his way to the hanger with a spanner in his hand, "I've saved entire ecosystems. I've broken out of three different detention centers and done time in Belle Reve Maximum Security Penitentiary. I've saved these ungrateful geeks' lives and now?"

Wally sighed, taking in the sight of the row of admittedly beautiful motorcycles, "Now I'm the live in Mr. Fixit for the Junior Division of the Superfriends."

As it turned out, when Batman had agreed to 'see what he could do' after the thing with the Reds, he managed to do quite a bit.

Having 'proven himself trustworthy', Wally had been granted what was termed 'lessened security detail', which basically meant that he was no longer confined to his cell.

Sure, there were still a whole myriad of places within the mountain base that Wally was not permitted, but other than that and requiring several super-powered chaperones when in the presence of any females, he was free to walk the halls of the cave.

And, due to the distinct lack of plant life in the concrete lined complex, he didn't even have to wear the inhibitor collar anymore, though, if he were to be entirely honest, Wally would likely trade away that particular freedom in exchange for a potted plant or two.

Wally crouched down next to the red tinted bike, belonging to Robin, who, in response to Thorn's complaints of boredom over the past week, pointedly informed him that his gears were sticking and asked him to take a look at it whilst he and the team went on a mission in India with Captain Marvel.

Looking over the perfect specimen of automotive engineering, it took Wally all of two minutes to come to the conclusion that the Boy Wonder was just gunning it too hard when he switched gears.

Wally was about to stand, most likely to make his way to the kitchen cabinet in a vain attempt to find some seeds or herbs that he could breathe life into, when something else caught his attention.

The cave was, for the moment, almost entirely empty, with Superboy, Miss Martian, Robin and Artemis, to Wally's amusement, being forced to attend school, Red Tornado's disappearance and Aqualad's preference to spend time in the ocean rather than dry land often leaving him to his own devices, even when mission activity wasn't being undertaken.

Despite this, Wally felt something off. He could swear that he wasn't alone, but all he could see was that stupid robotic beach ball.

"What do you want?" He asked testily.

The sphere remained silent, merely remaining in its chosen position and, Wally would later swear, _watching_ him.

Shaking his head, he dismissed his paranoia as he walked away, deciding to give up and go watch TV, "If I keep this up, I'll be nuttier than the Joker and Batman combined."

* * *

After the first weeks of his lessened security it got to the point where the team weren't the only ones willing to speak to Wally. In other words, the den mothers started getting involved.

In the case of Captain Marvel, this wasn't exactly a bad thing. The only way that Wally could really describe him was a child trapped inside a man's body, one who seemed in awe of Wally's tales of 'environmental activism', which was met with a combination of humor and sheer awkwardness.

Zatara, however, was a tad more involved. It seems that the Italian borne mage had his own theories on the origins of Poison Ivy and Thorn's powers.

"I believe that you and your aunt are tapping into the mystical bond that exists between all plants," he explained, "Called 'the Green'."

Wally held a firm disbelief in magic, so this theory was met with nothing less than derision.

"Right," he snorted, "You just keep believing that oh great and powerful Wizard of Oz."

Zatara had only smirked, "Open your eyes, and the mysteries of the universe can become clear to you, Elphaba."

Wally's brow furrowed, vaguely recognizing the name, "Did you just call me a wicked witch?"

"Or a misunderstood hero," Zatara replied calmly, as he turned to leave, "It all depends on how you look at it. And what story you prefer to call history."

Wally frowned as Zatara left his sight, unsure of what to think of what the 'magician' had said.

* * *

In the darkness of the Batcave was where Bruce first saw the footage of the plant monstrosities appearing across the country. He watched as the building sized vines thrash about in the middle of America's most populated cities and was witness to the so-called 'Injustice League's' broadcast.

When it was complete, his mind immediately focussed on tracking down any informants, so as to gather intel on the League's members. Two names immediately came to mind.

Harley Quinn was currently at large. Thorn was not.

Batman made a hasty exit for the Zeta-Tubes.

* * *

Wally gasped in pain as he thudded against the wall of the interrogation room for the third time in as many minutes, Batman growling in his face as he demanded answers to questions he could barely understand himself.

"I don't know!" He yelled into the caped crusader's masked face, "I keep telling you, it doesn't make sense!"

"Batman, please, calm down for a moment," Aqualad, the sole member of the team permitted to accompany Batman in his interrogation, "He is trying to explain himself."

The Dark Knight was clearly hesitant, but backed off regardless, giving Wally a chance to actually speak.

"Thank you," he said irritably, before jabbing a finger at the pictures on the table, "I don't know who that is, but there is no way in hell that it's _my_ Aunt Ivy."

Both Batman and Aqualad barely spared a glance at the image, a screenshot of the 'Injustice League', noting that one of the figures was undeniably Pamela Isley, before turning back to Thorn.

"I'm afraid that you'll need to elaborate," Kaldur offered diplomatically.

Wally jabbed viciously at the monitor in the wall, which displayed the live attacks on Gotham City, Metropolis, and Star City and explained, "These aren't lone plants attacking independently. They're a single organism with an extensive underground root system that's spread across the continent. There's no way in hell that Poison Ivy could control something this complex!"

If he were anyone else, Batman would have scoffed, as he recalled the many, many, many, 'complex' plant systems that his foe had attacked him with in the past.

Instead, he merely waited for Wally to continue.

"She can't do this," he explained, "Our limit is, _maybe_, 27 individual vines before it gets to be too much for our minds to keep track of. This? I don't even know how she managed to _grow_ this thing, but whoever's controlling these things would literally have to be either a super-genius, and I'm talking _Braniac_ smarts here, or completely insane to manage it."

"That may explain the Joker's presence," Aqualad told Batman, "The others of this League each appear to offer something invaluable in their various resources and abilities. The Joker, though certainly an ingenious foe, appears to be unique to this troupe only in his insanity. They may be using him and Poison Ivy as a medium to manipulate the plants."

"And that's another thing," Wally spoke up again, his voice cold and determined, "Ivy and the Joker would never work together. _Ever!_"

"Before today I might have agreed with you," Batman said stonily, "But that is clearly not the case."

"Not the case!?" Thorn raged, "_Look_ at her! I don't know what's going on but she sure as hell didn't have _stripes_ the last time I saw her!"

"No," Batman nodded, "She did not."

The way that the Dark Knight's eyes met Wally's own made his blood run cold, as it was in that instant that he knew that the potential theory running through his mind gained a little more traction.

"The Injustice League has access to the Venom combos, don't they?" He asked. His voice was quiet, a surprise to Kaldur, who knew him to be almost obnoxious in his tone.

"It is almost a certainty."

"But... that would mean..." Wally's head shook as his brain worked, finally spitting out, "They completed the formula?"

Batman eyed him, seeking an explanation, "What formula?"

Thorn ignored him, not even looking at him as his mind worked, running through calculations and chemical formulae.

"Wally," Kaldur's softer tone caught his attention, bringing him out of his trance, "Please explain."

"A couple of years ago," he began distractedly, eyes darting between them as he diverted perhaps a fraction of his attention to his interrogators, "There was a strain of Venom hitting the streets. It amplified powers..."

Wally cut himself off, lost in a memory before he snapped himself out of it, "I never saw it in action, but rumor was it could give a dude with a little enhanced strength Amazonian stats, but the side-effects were... well, let's just say that physical alterations were one of many and be thankful that it didn't take off."

"Why didn't it?" Batman asked, considering the implications of such a meta-human stimulant.

"There was a whole lotta demand for not a lot of supply," Wally told them, "I heard the original suppliers wound up getting killed by a juiced up pyro looking for another fix about three months after it hit the streets and the secrets of the product died with them. But if the Injustice League've managed to recreate it..."

"It could explain Ivy's presence amongst such criminals," Kaldur realized, though Batman had his doubts, "If they are supplying her addiction..."

"No," the senior League member stated simply, "I have reviewed the footage and Ivy is clearly an equal partner with the rest. If she does have an addiction, it is not being used against her."

"But it's the only thing that makes sense," Wally protested vehemently, "Ivy doesn't work with the Joker. The others? Maybe, but not him. Not that monster..."

"And this?" He continued, waving at the rampant destruction displayed on the screen, "This isn't her style. If she wants destruction, she'd be targeting companies, factories, warehouses, anything that deserves it. Anything that's harmed the environment. She doesn't target innocents or random civilians!"

Batman stared calmly at the nephew of his ecological foe, before stating simply, "With power comes change, and not always for the better."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, and Wally was standing in the small kitchen of the Cave, his hands clasped tightly around the depleting mug of hot chocolate as he hovered over the counter, muscles tensing rapidly as he shook sporadically.

He was alone. Batman, Captain Marvel and Zatara were currently in Gotham, battling one of the Injustice League's creations, and the younger team of 'heroes' were en route to Louisiana, where they would attempt to defeat the masterminds themselves.

He had begged to join them. He had promised that he would be able to control the plant if he could make contact with it, at least enough to still it, overriding whomever was commanding it to attack. He had been refused.

He had reminded them, with hysteria rising in his voice, that it was because of _him_ that ten kids in Gotham City were still alive. It was because of _him_ that Belle Reve Maximum SecurityPenitentiary had not been breached. Because of _him_ that the Reds had not killed the _sidekicks_.

With one strong, rough, motion, Wally turned away from the counter, the half-empty mug still firmly clenched in his right hand, and hurled the porcelain container across the room, screaming in his frustration as it shattered with a crash against the wall.

_They didn't _trust_ him?!_

His hand darted out to the sink, which still held the remains of Miss Martian and Superboy's 'secret' lunch date.

_After everything he'd done for them?!_

In his mindless rage, Wally's fingers tightened around the first thing that they touched, his arm then spasming as he sent the plate spinning through the air to shatter against the refrigerator.

_And now..._

Another plate. Another relishing 'crash' of shattering porcelain. Another pile of shards littering the floor.

_Now Ivy was going to be arrested._

A glass this time, followed by a fistful of cutlery.

_Sent back to Arkham to rot. Without him to bust her out._

A second glass. The last of the plates.

_Because he couldn't be there for her. _

He reached for more, only for his fingers to grasp at empty air. His fiery rage dissipating in one brutal moment, numbness setting in as his eyes rested on the vacant sink.

Wally didn't kid himself. He knew that when 'heroes' and 'villains' duked it out, it was the heroes who inevitably won. Whether by luck, skill, or Superman on speed-dial, the team would find a way to take the Injustice League down. More importantly, it meant that Poison Ivy would be taken down with them.

He shuddered, a tremble running through his entire being as he felt the conflict rise in his body. He suppressed it with a stubbornness his aunt had always been proud of, ignoring the carnage around him as he made his way out of the kitchen.

If he wasn't going to kid himself, then he wasn't going to lie to himself either. So what if it was the drugs? His aunt was doing things that he knew she'd regret if she were in her right mind, maybe it'd be best if she were stopped before it went further than it already had.

Wally shook his head clear, not even realizing that his feet had taken him to the hangar. It's not like he could do anything about it anyway.

_Beep. Bop. Beepbeep. Bloop._

His head snapped to the left, eyes searching out the source of the noise, "What the...?"

_Bop. Bloopbop. Beep._

Wally's eyes settled on the rightfully named 'Sphere', whose mechanical nature he was seriously beginning to doubt.

"Holy shit..." he breathed quietly, as the orb rolled slowly towards him, a familiar connection forming in his mind, blurred sensations and thoughts appearing in his consciousness, completely alien yet almost barely recognizable in their nature.

"You're not really a machine, are you?" Wally asked, wondrously, laying an open hand on its chassis, "Not a plant either, maybe. Something else entirely. Almost though. Close enough, at least."

Another torrent of sensations and thoughts ran through him, and Wally came to understand that the Sphere had a degree of sentience not commonly associated with vegetation.

Among the images received, the most prominent was of Superboy.

"You want us to help him?" Wally asked dubiously, "How?"

_Bop._

With no further invitation, the sphere began to unfurl, transforming in a manner Wally had only believed possible in a Michael Bay film, coming to rest in a form that Wally most definitely approved of.

"Holy shit," he exclaimed, "You're like a Super... Cycle!"

The now aptly renamed 'Super-Cycle' almost purred under Wally's praise.

"Good boy," he said hesitantly.

_Beep!_

"Girl!" Wally corrected hastily, hands held up in placating surrender, "Good girl."

_Beep._

"Good girl," he repeated in slow shock, mounting the mechanical-yet-organic Super-Cycle, placing himself at the control system between the back wheels.

"Now," he wondered briefly, eyes darting around the hangar, "How do we get out of here?"

The sound of the Super-Cycle making adjustments caught his attention, and Wally turned his head downwards to see the barrel of some type of weapon emerge from the front of the vehicle.

He grinned wickedly, "This is going to be _so_ much fun."


	6. Chapter 6

"Whooooooaaaaaaaaa!"

The Super-Cycle surged faster through the air, encouraged by Wally's screams.

Wally, in response, adjusted their direction, aiming them closer to the source of the titanic plants, squinting against the wind and wishing fervently for a pair of goggles, along with something a hell of a lot warmer than a loose T-shirt that had been 'donated' by Superboy when he'd been transferred to the Cave.

As he caught a glimpse of something on the horizon, a mess of writhing vines and branches climbing for the sky, he knew that, after almost an hour of travel, he had found it. His mind immediately went to his plan.

It was a simple plan, really. Wally would not go near Black Adam. He would avoid Wotan if he could, and he would be staying _far_ from Atomic Skull. Each of these members of the 'Injustice League' could annihilate Thorn with little effort and he was well aware of that fact.

The Joker, Ultra-Humanite and Count Vertigo? Wally gave himself pretty decent odds against them, but they weren't his priority. Instead, Wally planned to focus almost entirely on Poison Ivy.

In all honesty, all he wanted to do was grab her and get the hell out of dodge, but something about the Super-Cycle gave Wally the feeling that it wouldn't allow him to do that.

So he guessed he'd just have to be _nice_.

Being nice sucked.

* * *

As he neared the source, the first of the League that came into view was Black Adam, who was caught in the vicious grip of a heavily one-sided battle against Superboy.

Seeing the Kryptonian teen hurled downwards through the air, Wally's thoughts briefly turned to turning the Super-Cycle's lasers on his assailant, but any ideas he may have had were swiftly made moot as the Super-Cycle made its own choice.

"Whoa!" Wally cried, as the Super-Cycle unexpectedly dived, almost tumbling over the side of the flying vehicle as it accelerated after its falling friend, "Go up! Go up!"

The craft ignored him, but Black Adam did not.

Noticing the newest player in the game, Black Adam flew straight and true, ramming the unfamiliar vehicle with a strength that rivaled Hercules' and sending the already destabilized Thorn flying from what amounted to the craft's cockpit.

"Aargh!" Wally screamed as he found himself caught in gravity's unyielding embrace, plummeting through the treetops to the earth that was rapidly rising to meet him.

He jerked an arm out to the side, willing with all his might for help, almost immediately feeling a pressure around his wrist that told him his prayers had been answered.

Wally clenched his fist around the vine in that had found its way to his hand, only for his arm to nearly be wrenched out of its socket as it was forced to bare his entire weight, the vine itself swinging him in a long arc that sent the green-skinned teenager hurtling through the center of a battlefield.

He passed the dueling forms of Aqualad and Wotan, along with Wolf and the Ultra-Humanite, before colliding bodily with the green cloaked figure that was Count Vertigo, sending himself and the Vlatavian nobleman crashing painfully into the dirt.

It took him a moment to untangle himself, particularly with the pain of what was sure to be a set of bruised ribs and the dead weight of the unconscious Vertigo, but he was soon on his feet, a part of him relishing in the familiar feel of dirt between his toes, his eyes casting out in search of his aunt.

He found her, staring at him with an astonished awe, as though he had returned from the dead, and Wally wished with all his heart that he could just run straight into her arms and let her tell him that everything was okay, but first he had things to do.

A green-clad figure stalked behind Ivy, attempting to capitalize on her distraction, and Wally acted. Artemis immediately found her limbs entrapped in sinewy vines, letting out a gasp of shock in response.

Wally ignored her, taking the chance to properly greet his aunt.

"Aunt Ivy," he whispered softly, having crossed the distance between them to engulf her body in his arms, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Thorn," Ivy smiled serenely, brushing her fingers gently down his cheek, "But, I'm afraid that our reunion will have to wait."

She turned away from him, eyeing the captured archer with disdain and raising her right arm commandingly, the plants around her responding to her mental presence, growing deadly barbs and slithering closer towards the prisoner.

"Whoa!" Wally cried, his own hand darting out as he stole control of the plants away from his aunt, "Let's not go crazy here. We don't kill people!"

Ivy turned back to her nephew, a patronizing smile in place as she answered him, "This girl and her team stand in our way. How else do you expect us to move forward if we cannot remove her?"

"I don't know," he told her, "But killing people isn't the answer. Look, I know that the Injustice League's been giving you Meta-Venom, but you have to know that this is wrong. I mean, working with the Joker? Killing innocents? That's not your style!"

"My style?" Ivy almost laughed, "My style is to protect the plants of this world, by any means necessary. The Injustice League may be crude, but the resources that they offer will allow me to make my dream... our dream, a reality."

Wally gaped at his aunt, barely noticing as his concentration slipped and she regained control over the thorny vines and again moved them closer to Artemis's trapped form. But, a moment later, his resolve steeled.

_'She doesn't know what she's saying,'_ he assured himself. _'She'll thank me for this when she's clean.'_

The plants in Ivy's mental grip halted once more, to the great relieve of the terrified archer, and she turned back to face her nephew, ready to make him see the light, only to be met with the stubborn look she had only seen him apply to others in her own defense.

"Thorn..." she began warningly, but was cut off by the sudden growth of plants beneath her, as the roots of the surrounding trees broke the surface of the ground, destabilizing her as several of the wooden appendages began to encircle her legs.

She banished them away from her skin with but a gesture, anger appearing in her gaze as she focused on her wayward nephew.

Thorn crouched low to the ground, ducking the whip-like vines Ivy lashed in his direction, only to rise at the head of a sturdy stalk growing from the dirt below his feet, swiftly moving upwards to the height of a one-story building.

"Thorn," Ivy repeated, harshly gesturing to her nephew's stand, causing it to buckle and weaken beneath him. "You're grounded."

Wally, at the top of the stalk, very nearly fell, only to be spurned on by his aunt's comment, summoning his strength, he pushed off of the falling flora, grabbing onto a nearby branch.

"I haven't been grounded since I was twelve for a reason!" He retorted, swinging from the branch and into the thick of the tree from which it hung.

Ordinarily, Wally was admittedly rather clumsy, but, in the trees? He rivaled even Robin's famed acrobatic skills. He put these to good use as Ivy attempted to turn the trees themselves against him, ducking and weaving through the swinging branches with ease until he was low enough to leap for the ground, rolling with the impact through the mud and jumping back to his feet before his pursuers could capture him.

"You can't keep this up forever, Thorn," Ivy told him as she failed frustratingly to halt her nephew's progress.

The voice that answered her was not her nephew's.

"He doesn't have to," the distinctly feminine and raspy tone on the archer informed her, and Ivy realized her mistake. In her attempts to stop Thorn, she had failed to notice that he had released her captive.

This did her little good, however, as, by this point, Artemis was too close for her chloro-kinetic abilities to be of any use and she fell unconscious by the archer's blow.

With Ivy down, Artemis hesitated to leap back into battle against the others of the Injustice League, and instead paused momentarily to take in the sight of Thorn, standing several meters away, his breathing uneven and his eyes fixed on his fallen aunt.

"Thanks," she told him, drawing his gaze for a brief second before he turned back to the woman who shared his green tinted skin. She recognized the look in his eye. "I'm sorry she wasn't who you thought she was."

"She's on Meta-Venom," he said quietly, yet strongly. "She'll be fine once she's been detoxed. There'll be some withdrawal symptoms, but she'll be okay. She'll be back to normal."

Artemis eyed her downed adversary uneasily, certain that she hadn't held the presence of one who was under the influence of anything other than her own will, but didn't offer rebuttal, instead she turned her gaze towards the ongoing battle, noting that Kaldur was struggling against Wotan.

Turning back to Wally, she asked, "So, can we count on you to help us with the rest of these clowns?"

He looked up, away from his aunt, to meet her gaze. There was a fire in his eyes that she'd never seen before.

"Oh yeah," he almost growled, "The clown's mine."

Wally's quest for an outlet for his pent up aggression was halted by a sound he had long since recognized, and had long since associated with things going 'boom'.

His eyes darted to the edge of the battlefield, where the Injustice League's headquarters lay, and, within it, poking out through the roof, was the center of the plant, the source of the world's current problems. Littered throughout the wonder of botany were dozens of Robin's bat-a-rangs, each giving off the harmless sounding 'ting' that signaled it was ready to blow.

"Oh no," he whispered, eyes widening in fear as he realized what was about to happen.

The sound of the explosion was what many heard, but to Wally it was the sound of a pin hitting the ground when compared to the deafening roar of pain he felt coming from the plant itself.

"Aargh!" He screamed as his mental connection to the surrounding vegetation allowed him to _feel_ that pain for himself, his hands cradling his head as he sought to dim it. Wally was almost thankful that his aunt was currently unconscious, as it meant that she did not have to suffer through it alongside him.

The following battle was a blur, as Wally struggled to pull his mind together after the loss of the titanic plant. By the time he was capable of coherent thought once more, it was almost complete. He had woken just in time to be blasted by Wotan, in the mystic's largely successful attempt to subdue their opponents.

Now struggling as he tried to overcome Wotan's power, Wally barely heard Wotan and the newly reawakened Count Vertigo discuss what to do with him.

"Ivy's protégé has made his choice," Vertigo ordered dismissively, "He will suffer the same fate as these other so-called 'heroes'."

Wally tried to say something witty and poignant in response to that, or, failing that, at least something defiant, but all he could manage was a faint, "Nnngh."

"Miss Martian, Plan B," he heard Aqualad mutter, and, in the corner of his eye, Wally caught sight of a duffle bag fall from the air, in a path that would have been destined to land at the Atlantean's feet had Wotan not blasted it away, causing it to land within reach of Ivy's almost forgotten sidekick.

Wally, thankfully, had enough strength left in him to take the duffle bag in his hands, despite the lightning of Wotan's magic coursing through his body, drawing a golden helmet from its depths with an initial feeling of confusion and dread, only for that to turn into awe as the helm acted as a lightning rod, saving Wally from further pain and returning the full use of his body to him.

Pulling himself slowly to his feet, the helm clutched in his hands, Wally heard several cries of 'no' as he lifted the golden headgear above his body. He didn't know what it was or what it could do, but he did know that the helm had power. And something deep within him was telling him to put it on.

Despite the cries of those around him, Wally obeyed. And the world turned dark.

* * *

The first thing Wally noticed was the sheer nothingness of his surroundings. He was no longer in the Louisiana swamplands, no longer surrounded by heroes and villains alike. He was standing in the center of a halo of light, and all around was impenetrable darkness.

"Kid, you might just be the dumbest person I've ever met," a weathered voice appeared from the ether, drawing Wally's attention to an old man stepping out of the shadows.

"Huh?"

"Putting on the Helmet of Fate?" The man tutted, "That's a risky move, especially for someone of your power."

"Power?" Wally asked, before shaking himself out of it, "Who are you? Where are we?"

"Kent Nelson," he smiled genially with a tip of his head, "And we're currently inside the helmet... I think. I've never been entirely sure where it is I used to go when Nabu was in control of my body."

"Nabu?"

"Lord of Order," Nelson explained cheerily, "You may know him better as 'Dr. Fate', though."

"Wait," Wally said haltingly, beginning to understand, "I'm... Dr. Fate?"

Kent shrugged, "In a manner of speaking. You're still you though, he's just using your body like a coat."

"But he's fighting the Injustice League?" He pressed.

"Sure," Nelson told his younger companion, gesturing to the ether, where an image of the battlefield, as seen through the eyes of Dr. Fate, appeared in the air, "Looks like he's not doing a bad job of it either."

"This is too weird," Wally muttered, observing his own hands summon bolts of mystical energy, blasting them at Wotan and Black Adam, "How is this even happening?"

"You put on the helmet," Kent reminded him, "Didn't you know what you were getting into?"

"No," Wally said softly, "I just heard this... this voice, in my head. It said that I had to put on the Helmet if I wanted to stop the Injustice League."

"Ah," he nodded understandingly, "Nabu's been cheating. He's not supposed to be communicating with anyone until after they've donned the helmet. I'd say something but, well, it probably saved your life."

Wally's eyes narrowed, "I was doing fine on my own."

"Of course," Nelson smiled, "You were falling down very well. Don't take it too hard, kid. Wotan's power is matched by few others. Luckily, Nabu happens to be one of those few that dwarf even him."

Wally's eyes turned back to the portal, and he watched as the battle continued. He was barely understanding what was occurring, so he was trying to focus on what was tangible. Like the battle playing out before him.

He... Dr. Fate, seemed to have the situation under control, at least until the Joker pulled out the Dead Man's Switch, somehow causing the remains of the titanic plant to spew out massive quantities of SmileX upon the battleground.

For one brief moment his heart raced with fear for his own life, before he dismissed it in preference for fearing for everyone else's lives. He had nothing to fear from SmileX, after all. He and Ivy were immune to the toxic effects of the Joker's venom, just like they were to most chemicals... Wally blinked in sudden realization, barely even aware of the fact that Dr. Fate had just dismissed the SmileX to another dimension.

"She's clean," he whispered, complete horror evident in his voice.

"Excuse me?" Kent asked, peering at the green lad curiously.

"The Meta-Venom couldn't have been affecting her mental state because she'd be immune!" Wally said, louder, almost hysterically, before his voice turned quiet again, "She was really willing to kill all those people..."

"Kid, I'm afraid you're not making a lick of sense."

"My aunt," he said quietly, "She was actually willing to... for money? For, what did she say... resources?"

Kent felt a glimmer of understanding, and nodded sympathetically, "I'm sorry. Sometimes even our heroes can give in to temptation."

He glimpsed the portal, catching sight of a quiet battlefield, "Speaking of which... Nabu!"

_"Yes, Kent Nelson?"_ A golden helmet, identical to the one Wally had earlier donned, appeared from the shadows, speaking directly to the duo's minds.

"The battle is over," Kent asserted, "Remove the helmet and release the boy."

_...I am not certain that I can allow that."_

"Excuse me?" Wally asked, snapping out of his moral quandaries and mental breaks when Nabu had appeared, "What are you talking about?"

_"This body, though hardly ideal, is a suitable host,"_ Nabu intoned strongly, _"And the world most definitely needs Dr. Fate once again."_

"What? You can't just steal my body!" Wally screamed at his captor, turning to Kent for confirmation, "He can't do that, right?"

"He can," Kent said heavily, "But he shouldn't. Nabu, we've been through this before, the kids'll find you a proper host. You just have to be patient."

_"My patience is rapidly wearing thin,"_ Nabu said, almost petulantly to Nelson, _"And this body is well equipped for nature magic. It would be an adequate host."_

"But not a proper one," Kent reminded him, "Just look at him! The kid's soul belongs to the Green, not Order, and you know it."

"Wait, what?" Wally asked, only to be ignored as Nabu responded.

_"You raise a valid point, Kent Nelson," _he sighed, _"I will release this body, but make no mistake, the world needs Dr. Fate, and my patience will not last for an eternity."_

"Great," Kent smiled thinly at the floating helmet, before turning back to Wally, "He's an okay guy, really. He just gets cranky when no one lets him out to play every once in a while."

"Uh, sure," Wally agreed uncertainly.

"It's been nice meeting you, Kid," he continued, holding out a hand to shake Wally's own, "And try not to blame yourself for your aunt's mistakes. She's made her decisions, and her fate has been written, but it's not too late for you to change yours."

Wally nodded briefly at that, before he asked, "Hey, so, what happens to you when I take off the Helmet?"

"Oh, I'll be sticking around here for a while longer," Kent smiled, "Someone's gotta keep the old fart company until he finds a new host."

"And, what'll happen then?"

Kent's smile, already warm and comforting, turned into an expression of pure bliss at the very thought, as he pulled out his worn and weathered old pocket watch, flipping it open to peer at the image inside, "Then I'll move on to whatever's next. And I'll finally get to reunite with my Inza."

"That reminds me," he continued to smile, "Say hello to that Artemis girl for me. A real Spitfire, that one, just like Inza..."

Wally nodded his agreement promising to pass along the greeting, saying his own goodbyes before he felt Nabu release him, and the darkness around him gave way to the Louisiana swampland he had left behind.

* * *

"Thanks", Artemis rasped from the door of Wally's cell, prompting him to awkwardly lift his head to catch sight of the archer's masked form.

"Hmm?"

"For... saving me, I guess," she elaborated awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable, "I know that it wasn't exactly easy."

Wally's head slumped back down to reacquaint itself with his pillow. He _so_ didn't want to have this talk.

"I'm actually kind of impressed," she continued, her face shifting into a smirk, "I still can't bring myself to actually fight my sister."

"Oh, please," Wally muttered, "That _so_ doesn't count. _I_ wouldn't fight your sister. She'd kick _Robin's_ ass."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Artemis smiled, halfway to admitting that the green boy was more than likely correct in his assumption.

"I'm depressed, not suicidal."

"Yeah?"

Wally eyed her carefully, trying to figure out whether or not Artemis herself even wanted to have this discussion, before his hand moved to awkwardly tug at the power dampener which was currently choking him.

"Stupid Batman," he muttered. The Dark Knight had elected to return Wally to his de-powered state after learning that, a) Sphere had a Death-Bike mode, and, b) Wally could use his powers to communicate with it.

"Power dampeners aren't to your liking?" Artemis asked, mostly just for something to say.

"Aside from the fact that it's choking me," Wally said irritably, "I- you know what, forget it. You wouldn't understand."

"Try me," she challenged.

Wally eyed her again, "Nothing personal. You don't have powers. You wouldn't get what it's like to be cut off from them. I don't even know how I'd begin to explain it."

Artemis seemed to accept that, but her eyes still held the faintest glint of indignation, her pride having taken the slightest of hits at her inability to empathize.

"So..." she said slowly, searching for a new topic of discussion, eyes darting around the blank walls of the 'cell' in her vain pursuit before she finally just decided to confront the elephant in the room with a sigh, "So, how're you feeling after taking on your aunt?"

"Look," Wally said from his position on his bed, "I get that your teammates probably have that whole 'you need to talk about your feelings if you ever want to properly overcome them' racket that the prison psychologists are so fond of, but, seriously, I don't want to talk about it. Capiche?"

"Thank God," Artemis breathed, visibly relaxing as she began to lean against the doorframe, "I never got the whole 'talk it out' thing myself, and, frankly, I'd have no idea what to do if you actually did want to talk about it."

"Heh," Wally almost smiled, "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that."

"Hmm," she agreed, nodding her head, "Be warned, though, Black Canary's on the warpath about getting Batman to let her examine you."

"Well," he grinned, "That depends on what kind of 'examination'-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll 'examine' you with a pair of pruning shears."

"Hey," Wally held his hands up in surrender, "No need to get jealous, there's plenty of Thorn to go around."

"In your dreams, maybe," Artemis scoffed.

"Hmm," he sighed contentedly, "And what happy dreams they are."

"Ew," the archer physically shuddered in revulsion, turning to leave, "If you're gonna get like that, I'm outta here."

"Whatever, Blondie," Wally said, laying back to relax against his comfortable bed. "Leave the psychobabble at home and you can come back anytime."

"Geek," he heard her whisper as the door began to close shut behind her, to which he replied, loudly, with, "Harpy."

The door locked upon closing, another reinstated condition of Wally's containment at the Cave.

Sighing again as he laid back down on his bed, he sighed, "Stupid Batman."


	7. Chapter 7

"Has Batman's search for Red Tornado borne fruit?" Kaldur asked the Dark Knight's squire.

"Not yet," Robin replied tiredly, shoulders slumping slightly at the revelation, "He's exhausted all of his legal options and we're no closer to finding him than we were two weeks ago!"

"He's checked all the legal options," Artemis repeated curiously, "You think that there might be some illegal avenues we could investigate?"

"Well..." Robin said awkwardly, eyes shifting behind his darkened sunglasses, "I do have one possibility in mind."

"...you wish to take the question to Thorn," Kaldur realized.

"Why would he know anything about T. ?" Artemis asked, her eyebrows meeting above the bridge of her nose in her confusion. "He hasn't even seen the internet since he got here, and it's not like he's a super-villain favorite anyway."

"He might not know where the guy is," Robin admitted, "But, well, he _is_ sort of a super-villain himself. Maybe he'll have an idea or two about tracking one down that Batman didn't think of."

"It is certainly worth a try," Kaldur accepted reluctantly, "But are we certain that he will cooperate? The last time he helped us, after all, it resulted in his conditions being harshened once more."

"Well, he fought his own aunt for us last time," Robin pointed out, conveniently forgetting that that had been more for Thorn himself than anyone else, "Helping us track down T. 's nothing compared to that."

"I see," Aqualad nodded, still hesitant, "How is Thorn, by the way? Combatting your own flesh and blood cannot be a pleasant experience."

"I don't know," Robin told the Atlantean, "He hasn't really talked about it yet."

"Perhaps Black Canary should-"

"Trust me," Artemis interrupted, "Talking to Black Canary will just make it worse."

"But," Kaldur countered, "If he does not talk with someone, these emotions may-"

"He doesn't want to talk about it," Artemis told him sternly, "I'm not going to make him. Believe me, the only thing that'll help him get over this would require getting him back on the battlefield with Poison Ivy. Somehow I don't see that happening any time soon, which is probably a good thing considering how much property damage those two can do."

"Maybe," Robin accepted, "But he's going to have to talk about this sometime. He can't just stay in denial forever."

"I'd be willing to bet that Wally'd disagree with you there," Artemis pointed out, "But you may have a point. I'm not playing therapist, though. And if you value your lives, it'd be best if neither of you tried it either."

"Whatever," Robin decided, turning away from his friends with a half-hearted wave, "I'm going to ask him about T. if either of you wanna come."

As the Boy Wonder began to disappear down the hall, Aqualad and Artemis shared a look, before following their younger teammate in the direction of Thorn's 'cell'.

* * *

"Is Ivo still assumed dead, or did the Super Justice Friends track him down yet?"

Aqualad's face, normally a stoic and calm exterior, blinked in confusion at Thorn's unexpected answer to the question 'do you know where to find T. '.

"Ivo got busted a few months ago," Robin told the green skinned chloro-kinetic, despite some confusion on his own part, "He's in Belle Reve. Why?"

Wally grinned dangerously, "Then I know how to find your favorite android."

"You think Ivo knows something?" Artemis asked dubiously. "Why? It's not like he and T. are friends."

"No," Wally agreed, "But they are rivals in the whole 'evil robotics' thing."

"So?"

"_So_," he elaborated, somewhat impatiently, "Ivo'll be keeping an eye on the competition. Trust me, the Gotham crew does it all the time. Penguin'll have his beak in the business of every avian based thug out there, the Joker will be sure to pay every clown-themed crook a visit sooner or later, Freeze and the ice-villains, etc, etc. Hell, me and... me and Poison Ivy used to keep track of the Floronic Man, although that may have had more to do with that weird stalker crush he had on her..."

Each of the trio noticed the hesitance Thorn displayed when it came to speak his aunt's name, and none of them failed to note that he used her full title rather than calling her 'Aunt Ivy' as he was known to.

They chose not to say anything on the matter.

Aqualad turned to face Robin, "We should inform Batman immediately."

"Why?" The Boy Wonder asked, "Red Tornado's one of us. I say we should be the ones to get first crack at him and T. !"

"I've gotta agree with Bird-boy here," Artemis aligned herself with the masked teen, "Tornado betrayed us. We deserve to know why before the League turns him into scrap metal."

Aqualad paused, deep in thought, before he spoke, "I agree that we deserve to know the truth, and perhaps the only way to achieve that is to find Red Tornado before the Justice League."

"So, you're in?" Robin grinned.

"...I'm in," Kaldur nodded, slowly gaining confidence in his decision.

"Me too."

The Atlantean and two humans all turned their heads to face Wally, who was grinning in a manner that years of experience told Robin to be wary.

"You're kidding, right?" He asked, honestly unsure.

"Nope," Wally informed them firmly. "100% serious. Note: serious face."

"I am afraid that that would be impossible," Aqualad told him, "Not to mention, unwise."

"Oh, come on," Thorn groaned, "I've been cooped up in this tiny little room for the past week since the _last_ time I helped you guys out. I'm going stir crazy in here! I'm bored out of my mind, not to mention the fact that I'm in serious need of some time with the sun."

"..."

"You do realize that you're a prisoner here, right?" Artemis reminded him, not unkindly, though hardly politely, "For crimes that are almost too numerous to list?"

Wally frowned slightly at that, before his grin returned as he pointed to a small intercom system positioned next to his door, "You realize that, with a touch of a button, I can have Captain Marvel down here with a plate of nachos and some freshly squeezed pineapple juice?"

Robin resisted a sudden urge to slap himself on the forehead.

"We cannot simply release you," Aqualad informed him.

"Well, you could always just, I don't know, kidnap me?" Wally said with a shrug, before unconsciously allowing a little whiny desperation to seep into his voice, "Come on. I'll be good! I'll even keep the power dampener on!"

Aqualad exchanged glances with his two teammates, reluctantly coming to a decision.

"I suppose it would not be... entirely unwise, to have someone of Ivo's equal standing conduct the interrogation," he allowed.

"Yes!" Wally whooped, his hands reaching for the roof, "I'll drive the Super-Cycle!"

"NO!"

"...fine," Wally sniffed, only mildly discouraged, "Then I call shotgun!"

"...the Bio-ship doesn't really have 'shotgun'," Robin told him, as Artemis gave in to the urge and slapped a hand over her face.

"Whatever," he muttered, a tad more subdued, "Let's just go already."

* * *

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" M'gann asked her Atlantean leader quietly, even as she piloted the Bio-ship steadily closer towards Belle Reve, "Bringing Thorn with us on a mission?"

"He _has_ proven himself to be somewhat trustworthy in the past," Kaldur replied wearily, careful to keep his voice quiet enough to avoid the attention of Thorn, who was staring wondrously through the windscreen of the craft. "Frankly, however, it is the only way to prevent him from calling the League in to interfere."

Miss Martian nodded her acceptance, eyeing the boy who shared her emerald complexion with caution, "Okay, just... please don't leave him alone with me."

Aqualad was stone faced as he agreed to her request, quietly informing her that Conner had been told to maintain a position between herself and Thorn at all times. Both were well aware of the havoc that Thorn could wreak if he were able to regain control of M'gann, after all, and, more importantly, both Kaldur and Conner were aware of her nightmares.

She'd been having them ever since her first experience back in Louisiana. Nightmares about losing her rational mind to the whims of Thorn, her entire consciousness devolving into nothing more than an instrument of the boy's wants and desires... an instrument that felt nothing more than desire to enact his wishes.

Conner in particular was sensitive to that fear, but Kaldur understood it just as well as he did.

He stared sternly ahead, eyes picking up the shape of the prison on the horizon, before his focus shifted to Thorn, who was lounging carelessly in a seat M'gann had summoned from the walls of the Bio-ship.

Aqualad was willing to give Wally the benefit of the doubt at most times, but he would not be risking M'gann's or any of the team's safety on his account.

* * *

"You guys have no sense of humor," Wally groaned from the back of the Bio-ship as it sped towards Yellowstone Park, almost an hour later, where he was currently shackled to the wall.

"You threatened to grow a rose bush inside of Professor Ivo's small intestine," Aqualad replied sternly, not turning away from the windscreen to face the juvenile delinquent.

"I wasn't actually going to do it!" He whined.

"You tried to force him to swallow the seed," Kaldur reminded him forcefully.

"It was a rock!" Thorn cried, pulling fruitlessly at his bonds, wishing that he had at least enough slack so that he could get at that infuriatingly defiant itch that had developed on the very tip of his nose, "Come on, Miss M's magic mind mojo was on the fritz and none of you were offering any suggestions!"

"You almost gave him a heart attack."

"But he didn't," Wally wheedled, "_And_ I got the location of T. and your android pal."

"Sorry, dude," Robin shrugged, swiveling around in his chair to at least face his frienemy, "But, well, that smile you gave him? You kinda reminded me of the Joker back there."

"Dude!" Wally's face scrunched up in disgust.

"Yeah," the Boy Wonder agreed, "Exactly."

"It's called _acting!_" He asserted. "And have you even _heard_ that creepy little laugh of yours?"

"The difference between him and you," Artemis announced evenly, "Is that Robin's never threatened to rip someone to shreds from the inside out."

"He did that to me the second time we met," Wally informed her blandly.

Artemis spared a moment to look towards Robin as he attempted to justify himself.

"Well, yeah," he admitted, "But that's totally different."

"How?"

"I didn't have the means to actually do it."

"I keep telling you," Wally growled, "It was a freaking rock! If I'd actually had a rose seed on me, I'd've escaped _ages_ ago."

"Yeah, right," Robin scoffed.

"Oh, I _so_ would have!"

"Will you all please be quiet," Superboy said lowly, his voice conveying enough of the characteristic anger he was known and feared for to immediately shut the bickering duo up, if only for a moment.

Thankfully, however, it was a moment that was filled by Miss Martian tiredly announcing that they were finally coming up on Yellowstone National Park, which distracted both Thorn and Robin enough that their argument was almost forgotten.

As the Martian craft descended, coming to a stop at the base of one of Yellowstone's range of volcanoes, Wally felt the need to ask.

"So, am I gonna have to wait in the car, or do I get to come in with you guys?"

Aqualad and Robin shared a look, before promptly deciding, "No."

Wally slumped, before straining his arms against his chains, only managing to get them a few inches from the wall at shoulder height before they snapped taut, "Fine, but, Miss M? Any chance you could give me a little room to move? I've got an itch like you wouldn't believe..."

M'gann seemed reluctant, but her eyes briefly glowed white, and the chains emerging from the wall of the Bio-ship lengthened to at least allow Thorn to let his arms fall. At the same time, a hole opened in the floor and a ramp descended to the ground, allowing the team to swiftly exit, each of them sparing their captive a parting glance as they left the ship.

* * *

The Team moved stealthily through the brush as they made their way to T. 's supposed location, Robin checking his holographic display almost constantly as they neared it.

"Looks like Ivo was right," he revealed, finally getting the results he'd been searching for, "There's definitely something down there."

Before anything could be done about it, however, the wind began to pick up around them, soon revealing another presence amongst them. That of their estranged mentor, Red Tornado.

Horror and confusion ran rampant amongst the teenagers, before the message the aero-kinetic android had left for them became apparent.

'Play dead'? They could do that.

The battle with Red Tornado was swift and seemingly brutal, creating the illusion of Tornado robotically incapacitating each of the young heroes with a cool efficiency that was rarely seen in organic beings.

Unfortunately, as Tornado's 'brother' Red Volcano made apparent, blowing the message into the earth was hardly an effective way transmit it with any secrecy.

The ruse exposed, and Red Tornado seemingly abandoning them once more, the team sprang into action, utilizing their vast array of various powers, abilities and skills in their attempt to bring the mysterious new Red down. Unfortunately...

"I have all of Red Tornado's memories," Volcano informed them blandly, almost bored in his robotic tone, as he easily caught one of Robin's bat-a-rangs, allowing it to explode harmlessly in his metallic grip. "As well as a next generation processor. I know all of your moves before you make them."

* * *

"He is right," Kaldur winced, bracing himself behind a small ridge as Superboy and Miss Martian both attempted to subdue the android, "We are outmatched. He is aware of all of our strategies."

"I guess that we'll have to come up with some new moves then," Robin muttered, peering out from behind cover to take a look at the situation, only to be startled by a new voice entering the conversation.

"Or..." Wally said, walking calmly passed the two as he made his way towards the geo-kinetic android, "I can just show him mine."

"How did you get out of the Bio-Ship?" Robin managed to ask through his surprise.

Wally grinned, holding up the paperclip he'd had stashed in his pocket, "Stole this from Belle Reve. People always forget that Aunt Harley had a hand in raising me."

"We had best not make that mistake again," Kaldur said softly, watching carefully as Thorn continued on his path, emerging from the small cover and into the view of Red Volcano.

"A new meatbag," Volcano intoned, sounding almost bored as he caught another of Artemis's arrows, "How dull."

"Part meat," Wally admitted with a shrug, crouching down to put his hand against the incredibly rich volcanic soil, "I like to consider myself more of a vegetable than not though."

With that, Red Volcano suddenly found himself being attacked from below by an array of vines, each one working its way around limbs, exploring his chassis as they sought out weaknesses and openings, worming their way through the smallest chinks in his armor as they made their way to Red Volcano's delicate inner mechanisms.

For a brief moment, Red Volcano seemed, well, not _scared_ exactly, but off balance, but it was then that the 'Volcano' part of the Red's name became apparent, as the ground surrounding the android crumbled, revealing streams of lava below, reducing all traces of green to ash in less than a second.

"Aargh!" Thorn screamed, hands flying to his head and falling to his knees as he felt the pain of his plants dying.

"As I said," Red Volcano intoned, taking a strong step towards the cowering boy, "Meatbag."

Before the android reached him, however, Thorn felt himself become encompassed in Miss Martian's telekinetic grip, to then be flung from the battlefield to safety.

"I take back what I said," a shellshocked Wally gasped as Aqualad and Robin crouched over him, "Lava... hurts..."

Red Volcano's pursuit did not end, however, and the ground beneath the trio began to destabilize under the android's power. Forced to move, the battle continued, with Thorn doing his best to stay far from the machine, not even summoning any further vegetation to aid him for fear of more lava.

The battle was hardly going in the Team's favor, however, and it was, frankly, a miracle when Red Tornado returned to them, accompanied by the same androids who had originally attacked the Cave.

They were skeletal, it was true, and barely recognizable, both missing at least a limb apiece as though only partially constructed, but, it appeared, they were clearly functional enough to sacrifice themselves to end the 'life', if it could be called, of their 'brother'.

Red Inferno used her sole arm to grip Volcano around the neck, as Tsunami's legless form attacked the larger machine's own lower limbs, with Red Tornado providing the final push needed to drive the geo-kinetic into the very lava he himself had brought to the surface.

The moment that they touched the molten stone, it became clear that, though Red Volcano could manipulate the material with ease, not even he could withstand the incredible heat, as the robotic 'siblings' began to melt, even as they thrashed wildly, preventing Volcano from escaping.

Wally watched, transfixed, as, once Volcano had sank beneath the surface, Miss Martian reached out with her psychic gifts to lift Tornado, now missing his lower extremities, free.

"Whoa," he whispered, treading carefully across the fragile earth, moving closer to the damaged mechanoid, only to be stopped by the sudden shaking of the ground, and the rumble of the volcano beside them.

"Holy shit," he gaped, realizing what was about to happen as the ground's condition worsened and the volcano's mouth began to spew noxious black fumes into the air above.

"We've got a problem!" Thorn screamed to anyone who would listen, eyes darting out wildly as he searched for a solution, eyes resting on the damaged, but hopefully still functional, form of the Team's 'den mother'. "Tornado, listen! We're on the verge of a stage 3 super volcano eruption, there's no turning back from that! We need to vent pressure, fast! But the ash cloud will bring on a worldwide nuclear winter, unless you divert it!"

"What?" Robin said, as various other members of the team attempted to react to Wally's warning.

"Dude," he said forcefully, having crossed the last to steps to the group and laying a hand heavily on the Boy Wonder's shoulder, "Trust me on this. I need you to triangulate pressure points. Artemis, blow them to hell."

Robin and Artemis shared a brief glance with Aqualad who, having seen the genuine fear in Thorn's eyes, nodded for them to do as commanded. Robin swiftly called up the relevant coordinates, revealing them to Artemis and allowing the archer to fire off a trio of explosive arrows into the mountain.

They had the desired effect, to Wally's immediate relief, and the pressure was reduced, and Red Tornado's part came into play.

With the vast rise in black gasses now being released, the silent android summoned his trademark tornado to lift him into the air.

Wally could only watch, helpless and powerless on the ground, as Red Tornado used his frightful powers over the winds to banish the noxious fumes beyond the upper atmosphere, sending them to disperse harmlessly into the endless void of space.

He let out a deep sigh of relief, before blinking suddenly in realization.

"I totally just helped save the world... again."

* * *

"Hello."

Fifteen pairs of eyes, spaced evenly around the table, turned to face the new entrant, Batman.

"Most of you are aware of why I have called you all to the Watchtower," he continued, striding towards the final seat, situated directly beside Superman's own. Calling upon the holographic keyboard at his station, he called to life the various holographic screens around the room to ensure that each League member had an unobstructed view of a prison portfolio detailing the crimes of a certain green skinned boy, whose mugshot was also present. "For those of you who don't know, this is Wallace West, better known as 'Thorn', the former protégé of Dr. Pamela Isley, also known as 'Poison Ivy'."

Many heads nodded their acknowledgment, even as a discreet few spared a cautious glance in the Flash's direction, only to find him oddly emotionless at this point in time.

"Just over a week ago," Batman went on, looking out carefully over the silent audience, finding curious faces, "Our covert ops team, formed from our own protégés, broke ranks in order to track down their missing supervisor, Red Tornado. Thorn, it seems, blackmailed his way into joining them, threatening to expose their mission before leading them to Professor Ivo in Belle Reve, where he extracted the location during a swift interrogation. Once they made their way to Yellowstone Park, the Team were then made aware of T. 's newest creation, Red Volcano, who, before his defeat at the hands of Red Tornado and the Team, as well as Thorn and the now deceased Reds Torpedo and Inferno, triggered a volcanic eruption that would have destroyed all life on earth as we know it had it not been prevented by Red Tornado, Robin and Artemis. Were it not for Thorn's aid, however, this would not have been possible and the volcanic eruption would have proceeded unimpeded, thrusting the world into chaos."

"This was not the first time that Thorn has aided the Team or the League. Earlier this year, Thorn acted as a mole for us within the Belle Reve Maximum Security Penitentiary and, through his actions, single handedly prevented an attempted mass breakout of the facility. He was vital when the Team faced the rogue Reds Torpedo and Inferno during their assault on Mount Justice, and his risks during the battle against the Injustice League, both in actively going against Poison Ivy and in willingly donning the Helm of Fate, were significant."

"Added to all of that," Batman continued seriously, "He has independently saved almost a dozen children from the Joker."

"After his actions last week," he began to get to the crux of the matter, "I began to believe that Thorn may deserve a reward for his various actions, and I took the matter to the Team, who, as his primary jailers, have a more detailed awareness of his character. The decision had to be unanimous. Three out of five voted in favor of my proposition. However, it seems that, during the rogue simulation yesterday, thoughts have been revisited and the votes recast. As such, with all members of the Team now in favor, I am now taking the question to you."

Batman paused for a moment, gazing out at his audience before he continued.

"I wish to petition the President of the United States of America to pardon the crimes of Wallace Rudolph West due to the heroic and selfless acts he has performed for the betterment of both his country and wider world."

Batman examined the faces of each of the assembled beings, finding an assortment of emotions.

"Many of you have faced Thorn before," Batman stated, "Some on the battlefield, others off. All of you have the information before you, on both his crimes and more heroic deeds. You have a psychological analysis performed by Black Canary and statements from all five members of the Team outlining his character."

"How does the League vote?"


	8. Chapter 8

"C'mon girl," Wally cooed, rubbing the Super-Cycle's chassis lovingly with one hand, a wrench held in the other, "Pop the hood for Uncle Thorn."

The alien vehicle remained staunchly closed.

"I just wanna see how you work," he promised, whining just a tad, "I swear I won't touch... alright, no I don't. But I _do_ swear I'll put everything back the way I found it!"

Wally was about to degenerate into flat out begging when he heard the very loud stomping of incredibly powerful feet. Turning away from the extraterrestrial craft he took in the sight of the Kryptonian who was practically steaming as he angrily made his way for the exits.

_Beep!_

Wally blinked, suddenly finding his hair settling after a gust of wind, created as the Super-Cycle sped past him, only to brake suddenly before Superboy, momentarily interrupting his internal conflict as he allowed a small smile to appear on his face.

"You want me to drive you?" He asked, leaving Wally admittedly somewhat impressed in his ability to understand the demand. Still, that didn't mean he was letting that happen.

"Uh uh," Thorn interrupted, arms waving importantly as he stepped up between them, "No way."

"Why not?" Superboy's eyes narrowed.

Wally was not impressed, meeting those eyes fearlessly.

"_You,"_ he said strongly, jabbing at an invulnerable torso with his index finger, "Are strong enough to crush steel in your bare hands. I don't even want to think about what you'll do to this baby's controls if you get a little stressed while you're out flying."

Superboy didn't look like he was convinced by Thorn's reasoning.

"Good thing I don't need your permission to fly Sphere then," he stated. "If she wants me to go, I'm going."

_Beep!_

"Seriously?" Wally looked questioningly back at the Super-Cycle, before turning back to Superboy, "Fine. Get in the front though, I'm driving."

"What?"

"You look like you're going to do something stupid," Wally explained, turning around and vaulting himself into the small cockpit at the rear of the ship. "I'm not letting you put my girl here in harm's way. Especially since you don't even know how to handle her."

On another day, perhaps Superboy might have argued Thorn's personal comments. Today, however, his mind was too preoccupied to much care what anyone might think of him, so he focussed on a more immediate flaw in Wally's statement.

"You're not allowed to leave the Cave," he reminded him, "You're a prisoner."

From his seat in the cockpit, hands already on the wheel, Wally merely raised an eyebrow, as if to simply ask 'so?'.

It was true. Whilst the Justice League supposedly was petitioning the President in order to get him a pardon for his past crimes as 'Thorn' and, with the League's clout, the outcome was almost a sure thing, the time that it would take for the various committees and meetings to actually make their decision was apparently going to stretch. And then, when all that was done, there was still the question of what the hell they were actually going to do with the unsupervised minor with superpowers.

Rumor was that they were actually going to get one of the League to become his legal guardian, an idea which he wasn't sure should make him shake with laughter or terror. After all, Superman was proving himself quite the deadbeat dad and the idea of Batman changing diapers sent him into hysterics.

Seeing that Thorn wasn't about to change his mind, and was already loudly revving Sphere's engine, Superboy decided to simply not argue, wordlessly dumping himself into the craft's front seat and allowing Thorn to direct them to the garage door, where they stopped, and Conner was reminded, once again, that, despite the near certainty of his legal future, Thorn was still hardly supposed to be leaving.

With a mild sigh and shrug, he punched in the passcode, granting a temporary freedom to them both.

He just hoped that the fresh air would help him forget about Black Canary's therapy session and, more importantly, the simulation.

* * *

Wally watched, transfixed, as the five so called 'New Gods' shouted simultaneously and began to merge in a spectacular light show, his mouth casually working of its own accord whilst his mind was occupied.

"I've seen a lot of things," he said sidelong to the equally amazed Superboy. "I've seen a human crocodile and a man with two faces share a drink with a ventriloquist dummy. I've seen Catwoman naked. Hell, I'm probably one of the few people alive to have ever seen both Batman _and_ the Joker scared."

"But I never thought I'd see a bunch of Gods pull out a freaking Megazord!"

The blue and gold mecha disintegrated technology with little more than a glance, batting aside enemies with nothing more than a wave of its hand, teleporting the New Genesis drill away with a casually summoned portal. Though the ringleader and the hired muscle escaped, the battle was over in less than a minute, with one member captured.

"What was that?" Superboy demanded as the five New Gods separated and began to return to himself and Thorn.

"That was Infinity Man," Dreamer explained, "We merged to become one with the Source. And become greater than the sum of our parts."

"Glad my team isn't that close."

"You aren't?" Thorn asked Superboy cautiously, "Because, you know, I've been picking up these weird vibes from everyone and I wasn't sure if I should say anything and-"

The emerald skinned meta-human wisely chose to shut his trap once the Kryptonian had leveled a glare in his direction that shook him to his very core.

"Lower beings tend to fear intimacy."

"Oh, dude," Thorn smirked dangerously, "You have _no_ idea."

"This makes no sense," Vykin interjected, "How are these individuals acquiring technology from Apokylips and New Genesis?"

Dreamer swiftly discerned the answer, telepathically interrogating the sole captive, creating an image in the air that was named all too quickly, "D'saad."

"Look, I've been remarkably patient-" Superboy spared his companion a glance when Thorn snorted into his hand, begrudgingly amending his statement, "You know, for me anyway. What is going on?"

"Much as it pains me to agree with him," Thorn nodded his head in Superboy's direction, "I'd really like to know that myself."

One explanation later, Wally found himself shuddering.

"Why did you make the illusion speak?" He asked, severely creeped out by D'saad's tone, "That seemed unnecessary!"

"He is seriously creepy," Superboy agreed.

* * *

"Still no heat signatures," Superboy informed the group, signaling Dreamer to drop their illusory disguise, "It's perfectly safe."

Thorn felt himself shiver reluctantly as he felt Dreamer's illusions cease to surround him, leaving him exposed in the concrete floored hangar, where Vykin assured them was more of the alien tech whilst Superboy was simultaneously positive that there were no warm bodies present.

"Dude," Thorn muttered angrily as, just as Dreamer's disguises over them had been dropped, the technologically maintained illusion of an empty hangar ceased to exist, revealing the entire Intergang, armed and ready. "I really think that you need to get your eyes checked!"

"Our technology masks heat signatures," the leader, appropriately named 'Ugly', revealed smugly. "And the visors filter out illusions."

He grinned, chest mounted weapon glowing red as he prepared to fire. "We got ya."

"Oh shit!" Wally dove to the side, ducking out of the laser's fire as the rest of the group scattered. Rolling easily along the floor and jumping back to his feet, he continued his erratic movements, carefully keeping himself in constant motion to prevent anyone getting a lock on him.

"Just like Aunt Harley taught me," he grunted, voice hitching ever so slightly as one of the lasers came just a tad too close for comfort. It truly was unfortunate that the floor was concrete. It made it impossible for anything green to grow, leaving him effectively powerless as he weaved his way through the crowd. As such, he decided to leave his more combat minded companions to deal with the actual fighting.

At least, he thought he was. It seemed that they too considered the threat too much to handle, and the next thing Thorn knew he was hearing them cry out 'Taaru!' in concert, beginning their merging into the seemingly all powerful 'Infinity Man'.

That, unfortunately enough, is where things started to go very wrong.

Wally didn't see who did the deed, but someone managed to toss something small and, evidently, evil into the merging Infinity Man, the results of which were fairly obvious. After all, if the new color scheme didn't tip them off, the fact that the giant was now taking orders from the other side was a big hint that Infinity Man had just been corrupted.

"Kill the boys," someone ordered in a harsh rasp as Thorn looked up in fear. Infinity Man only looked in their direction before launching an attack that sent Superboy flying.

As the Kryptonian clone flew through a concrete wall and went skidding along the tarmac beyond, Thorn couldn't have been more thankful that that hadn't been him. He promptly hauled ass out of there.

* * *

Wally leaped through the hole in the wall left by Superboy and onto the tarmac outside, wincing slightly as his bare feet slapped against the solid surface but not slowing in the slightest. He needed to get to Superboy.

He saw him, pulling himself to his feet, using the Super-Cycle as a brace.

"Good girl," the Kryptonian muttered, patting her chassis absently as Thorn neared, the corrupted Infinity Man stepping calmly out of the hangar, after having casually ripped his way through the hangar itself, "We'll face it together."

What followed was a series of blinks and beeps of various tones, which completely went over Superboy's head, but seemed to make some sort of sense to Thorn.

"Wait," the green boy looked curiously over Sphere, "You can do that? Seriously?"

"What's she saying?"

Thorn spared him a glance, before turning back to the Super-Cycle, who had already begun to shift back into her default mode, "Wait for me!"

The chlorokinetic turned back to Superboy, explaining the situation as the New Genisphere halted mid-shift, transforming back into the Super-Cycle form to which the team had become accustomed, "She's got a plan, but you need to keep the Megazord busy for a moment."

"What kind of plan?" Superboy asked.

"The kind that needs a distraction," Thorn replied, hopping into the cockpit and grasping at the controls, revving the engine. "Oh, and, try not to die, the others would kill me."

Superboy smirked as Thorn drove away, turning back to face Infinity Man as he drew nearer, "Right. Piece of cake."

* * *

"You sure you can do this, Supey?" Wally asked the speeding machine as they slowly began to circle widely back to the battle, carefully out of earshot to ensure that their return would not be expected.

_Beep!_

"No!" Thorn exclaimed over the rushing wind, "I totally believe in you! But can you blame me for being a bit cautious when we're dealing with something like this?"

_Beep!_

"Hey! I happen to think that it's a perfectly valid reaction!"

_Beep._

Thorn would have liked to have argued further, and most certainly would have had Infinity Man not returned to his view, Superboy firmly held in his grip. Instead, he merely revved the acceleration, sending them hurtling into the air as they gained speed and altitude, rising swiftly as they rose beyond the giant's feet, knees, hips, shoulders... finally reaching his head.

The Super-Cycle shifted mid-flight, to Wally's discomfort, transforming from a vehicle that somewhat resembled a motorcycle, albeit a flying one, into something that more closely appeared to be some kind of beetle, one that could not sustain its own flight. Thankfully, its path was true and it landed accurately against the back of Infinity Man's neck, plunging various extremities into the giant's circuits in order to steal control away from whatever had been used to usurp it.

The end result was that the Super-Cycle, shifting again, carefully so as to accommodate Wally's presence, to provide a platform for him to stand upon, and controls for him to use.

"I have my own Megazord," Thorn smirked to himself as the thought occurred to him, and, judging from the fear in the eyes of those below him, the thought occurred to some others as well. "And they say dreams don't really come true."

_Beep!_

"I was not getting distracted!" Wally argued to the machine below him, before reluctantly doing as he was expected, the Super-Cycle explaining to him as best she could how to control the Infinity Man.

His tenuous bond with the Super-Cycle allowed him to manipulate Infinity Man with great ease, raising an arm to block incoming attacks before firing down upon them with the arsenal at his disposal. The thugs didn't last long, their leader lasting not much longer.

"All will suffer!" A cloaked figure below shouted angrily as he prepared to step into a glowing yellow portal that Wally was _certain_ hadn't been there a moment ago, "All will suffer!"

With that, the pale figure in purple hurled something at the Infinity Man.

"Please," Wally muttered, almost bored, as he blasted it out of the sky, only for it to react rather explosively. "Oops."

The explosion seemed to trigger something in Infinity Man as the next thing Wally knew, his perch had dissipated, leaving himself and the Super-Cycle to fall rather painfully into the center of five unconscious 'New Gods'.

"Aargh!" Thorn screamed in pain once he'd hit the pavement. He'd tried to land as Harley had taught him, rolling with the impact so as to dissipate the force of the fall, but he had fallen too far and landed on solid tarmac. What had resulted was what he was fairly certain was a twisted left ankle and some heavy bruising across his back and shoulders. All in all, nowhere near as bad as it could have been, but enough to keep him complaining for a good long while.

"She's... hurt," he heard Superboy mutter sadly, looking up to see that the Super-Cycle was in deed in bad shape.

"The damage may be beyond repair," Vykin revealed gravely, "But... Motherbox will try."

Wally watched, despite his own pain, as the supposed God placed the device upon the Super-Cycle, causing immediate results. Torn metal returned to its original condition, oil seeped back to whence it had came and the Super-Cycle transformed back into the Sphere form it was originally known for.

"The healing process has begun," Vykin stated confidently, "And will be completed on New Genesis."

"Say what?" Wally groaned, trying hard to push himself to his feet, despite his various injuries. Dreamer, seeing his discomfort as he struggled to simply pull himself into a seated position, bent down to help him.

"We thank you for your help," she explained, drawing one of his arms across her shoulders and allowing him to lean his weight on her so as to keep his injured foot off the ground. "But we must take the New Genisphere home now."

"No way!" Thorn argued, swaying slightly.

"Why should we leave her with you?" The gunslinger with the southern accent, who was swiftly becoming Wally's least favorite, asked accusingly. "To us, she lives. To you, she's just a machine!"

"That's not true," Thorn told him harshly, "Look, I can talk to plants, and for some reason I can talk to the Super-Cycle too. That makes her more alive to me than most of the people I've met and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you take her anywhere that she doesn't want to go!"

That seemed to give the New Gods pause, sharing a glance before Vykin asked, "You are aware of her desire to remain on Earth?"

"Well, not so much on Earth as with me and Superboy," Wally sheepishly elaborated. "Don't ask me why, but she seems to like us."

"Really?" Superboy perked momentarily, smiling slightly to himself at Thorn's nod.

Vykin shared another glance with his companions, before Dreamer announced with a smile to the boy still leaning heavily upon her, "Then she may remain with those she has chosen."

Wally smirked, glancing over at Super-Cycle, in Sphere mode, as she nuzzled into Superboy's hand, "Thank God. I'm up for a full pardon and I don't think that corrupting Superboy and fighting all of you would've looked too good to the committee."

* * *

The New Gods didn't stick around long after that. Their quest to seek out the source of the alien technology on Earth was nowhere near complete and they had much work left to do, so the boys gave them their goodbyes, with Superboy offering to help them if they ever returned and with Thorn quietly hoping that they never found a reason to do just that.

"So..." Wally said awkwardly, leaning heavily on the Super-Cycle to keep weight off of his injured foot, perhaps a minute after the New Gods had disappeared into the Boom Tube, "Do you have any other fights to get to? Or can we get back to the Cave now?"

Superboy turned to face his companion with something akin to surprise, as though he'd forgotten that the other boy had even been there for a moment, before he nodded, turning back to Sphere and patting her chassis cautiously.

"You good to get us home, girl?" He asked quietly.

The machine let loose a series of beeps and chirps, giving Thorn a vague answer in the affirmative to Superboy's question.

Thorn frowned, crossing his arms stubbornly, "She can still fly. The question is, are you ready to head back?"

"What do you mean?" Superboy asked, eyebrows furrowed as he met Thorn's gaze.

"I mean, you know," Thorn said, gesturing vaguely with his hands, "There's a reason that you tried to take off in the first place, right? Are you over that yet or are you just gonna swipe the Super-Cycle when I'm not looking?"

"I'm fine," he stated strongly, before moving to enter the Cycle, "Can we just go?"

"Not until you tell me what happened in that stupid simulation."

Superboy's head whipped around so fast that Thorn was almost certain that the Kryptonian had just manifested super-speed, eyes zoning in on the chlorokinetic with anger in their eyes.

"Come on," Thorn pressured, "You and the rest of your team have been dancing around me for a week now. I want to know what's going on!"

"You really wanna know?" Superboy said lowly, stepping forward and looking down at Thorn, making him suddenly aware of the fact that the Kryptonian had at least half a foot on him. "We died. Something went wrong and we forgot that it was a simulation, so when we saw Artemis die, we _really_ thought she was _dead!_"

"...oh."

"And that's not all," Superboy continued, on a roll as he finally began to unleash the emotions he'd been bottling up for a week now, "It was designed to always get worse. No matter what we did, we were destined to fail. So _all_ of us died and we _all_ thought it was _real!_"

Thorn tried to take a step back, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward as he imagined what kind of trauma that that would cause. He stopped himself though, due largely to the pain in his foot, and steeled himself, there was still more that he needed to know.

"And..." he asked cautiously, "Where was I? Did I exist in the simulation?"

Superboy stared at him for what seemed like an eternity, the only sounds being the harsh breaths that he forced himself to take and the distant rumble of engines on a highway.

"You were there," he muttered. "After Artemis died, when we thought it was real... Robin and Aqualad decided that we needed all the help we could get. You came with us to the Hall of Justice, and when we didn't have time to get you access to the Zeta-tubes... you threw Kaldur in... and stayed behind to help the military with the invasion."

"...oh," Thorn blinked heavily, realizing that that must have been why Superboy and Miss Martian had suddenly changed their votes concerning his chance at a pardon, "That was... nice... of me?"

Superboy turned away, grunting something that might have been agreement.

"And..." he pressed warily, "What about you? How did you... die?"

For a long moment, Superboy didn't answer him, forcing Thorn to do nothing more than stare awkwardly at his back.

"Robin came up with a plan after Aqualad died," he revealed with a sigh, "He and Miss Martian would infiltrate the alien mothership with J'onn. But... they needed a distraction."

"And you were the target?" Thorn guessed. "Dude... that sucks."

Superboy grunted again, maybe agreeing maybe not, but it was a gateway to further communication.

"You know what's weird though?" He said, face turning skyward as his eyes searched out the stars, "I wasn't even upset about it. Even with everyone around me fighting and dying in a hopeless war, even when I was sent to my own death... I didn't care. People were looking at me like... like I was Superman. I... I was at peace."

"...wow," Thorn breathed, "That's... kinda messed up."

Superboy snorted, humming his agreement.

"How am I supposed to trust myself after something like that?" He asked, turning back to face his companion, "How am I supposed to live with myself?"

Thorn froze for a moment under the intense stare, before suddenly bursting out in gut-wrenching laughter.

Eyeing Thorn's form, now convulsing with laughter, Superboy casually stated, "You're not very good at this, are you?"

"I'm sorry," he gasped between breaths, trying to regain control of himself as he gradually straightened as best he could, "I'm sorry, it's just... I can't help but see the ridiculousness of the situation. I mean, come on, you're you! You're the friggen' Superboy! You run around with the Justice League's full approval and you're doubting whether or not you can do the right thing? Come on!"

Superboy frowned, "You don't get it."

"Hey, I _totally_ get it," Thorn argued, jabbing with his index finger, "Dude, look at me! I'm Thorn! For years I followed Poison Ivy around, doing everything she told me to because I trusted that we were doing the right thing. Now? Not so much, I've realized that she was going _way_ too far. And now? Now I honestly can't tell you what the right thing is."

"I mean," he continued, no longer really looking at Superboy as he himself began to rant, "You can't tell me that Poison Ivy and I didn't do any good. Look at WayneTech! We held Wayne Towers hostage once because of the way their companies were illegally dumping toxic waste and you know what? We got results! That playboy CEO of their's launched a full investigation into his company, fired half of his managers and did a complete overhaul. Now they're leading the way in green technologies and safe waste management. You can't tell me that that's a bad thing!"

"No," Superboy reluctantly agreed, "But-"

"I know what you're going to say," Thorn interrupted without a glance in the Kryptonian's direction, "'The ends don't justify the means'. Well, why shouldn't they? If people don't listen to you when you post fliers, why can't you just give them a taste of their own medicine? I mean, okay, killing people, maybe going too far, but why can't you just let them feel a bit of the pain that they're inflicting on the world?"

Superboy blinked as he realized that Thorn was waiting for him to answer.

"I don't know," he admitted, reluctantly, "But I do know that hurting people isn't right."

Thorn didn't know how to answer that, so the silence stretch on.

"Maybe that's the big secret," Thorn eventually sighed, almost dazed as he looked up into the night sky, "Maybe no one really knows what's right and wrong... maybe you can't even trust yourself to know that. But I guess everyone can agree that hurting people is wrong. And, if all else fails... you can trust in that."

"Maybe," Superboy nodded, eyes following Thorn's own, realizing that the green boy was gazing intently at the moon, seemingly transfixed on the pale orb with the unearthly glow.

They stood there for a moment, two boys struggling to understand the world they found themselves in staring at the moon as though it held all of their answers.

"Anyway," Thorn said suddenly, breaking the silent spell that had washed over them in the past few moments, hobbling awkwardly around the idle Super-Cycle as he made his way to the cockpit, "We should probably get going before someone sends a search party out after me."

"Right," Superboy agreed, shaking his head to clear his turbulent thoughts. "Hey, your real name's Wally, right?"

Thorn turned back to the Kryptonian, confusion etched into his emerald features as he came to a sudden stop.

"Yeah," he admitted awkwardly, "Why?"

"I'm Conner," Superboy revealed, offering his hand. "Conner Kent."

Thorn looked warily at the hand, which he knew from experience could crush him like a grape, and then at the cautious, almost nervous expression that the Kryptonian was wearing.

"Wally West," he stated, accepting the hand and giving a quick shake, "Nice to know that I'm not the only one afflicted with alliteration."


	9. Chapter 9

Halloween. A night of ghosts, goblins and ghouls. A night where a person can dress as their wildest fantasy or their worst nightmare.

A night, Artemis noted, that Wally West had decided to use to dress up as himself.

When M'gann had invited the entire team to her school's Halloween bash, Artemis had succinctly thought 'why not?'. Granted, neither Kaldur or Robin could attend (and they had to distract Captain Marvel long enough to get Wally out the door), but it sounded like fun. In theory, at least.

In reality? Not so much.

Artemis had swiftly grown bored of the crowd of Justice League imitators and found that M'gann and Conner had both left her to talk to some of their friends whilst Wally had disappeared after some girl in a Black Canary outfit, so she had gone in search of the punch bowl, idly wondering if anyone had spiked it yet.

"Damn it," she muttered after a sip, failing to taste a trace of alcohol in the drink.

"What's wrong?"

Artemis turned around to see Wally walking towards her, a slight limp in his gait from his not quite yet healed ankle and dressed in nothing but a pair of ratty jeans (what he considered to be an 'authentic' costume), a top hat that he'd likely stolen from another guest and a rapidly swelling bruise on his left cheek.

"Black Canary turn you down?" She asked with mock sympathy.

"She thought I was a leprechaun," he told her dejectedly.

"So?"

"So, I stole the hat and asked her if she'd show me her pot o' gold," Wally smirked, using an incredibly thick and, if Artemis were any judge, somewhat offensive attempt at an Irish brogue.

Artemis stared at him blankly, "You totally deserved worse than the slap."

"Hey," he reminded her, "She thought I was a _leprechaun!_ I think I'm entitled to pissing her off for that."

"So she didn't know who you were," she said sardonically, "Big whoop."

"I do _not_ know what happened," Wally moaned, "I mean, seriously? I know I was never exactly a household name, but I go five months without committing a felony and no one can even recognize me?"

"The gift of anonymity," she told him with false grandeur, "Enjoy it while you can, Green Genes."

Wally's eyes narrowed playfully, "You know it's not nice to mock someone for their genetic differences."

"You don't count as an ethnic minority," Artemis stated strongly (and not for the first time), "And you can't keep going back to that and then turn around and call Kaldur 'Fishsticks'."

"He likes it!" He tried but, noting the look in Artemis's eyes, he knew that she wasn't buying it. "Fine, I'll stop if you will."

"Whatever."

Looking around, Wally sighed, "This shindig is _so_ not up to standards."

"Not everyone had Harley Quinn planning their birthday parties."

Wally grinned at that, thinking back to a particularly memorable birthday bash a few years ago, before shaking his head clear.

"No," he told her, "I meant the costumes these guys are using. I've fought half of these people at one point or another and when you add the Canary's slap to that? I'm having flashbacks."

Artemis snorted quietly, "I can understand that."

Looking around the crowd, which, admittedly, _was_ rather tame, she eyed Thorn casually, "You wanna get outta here?"

Wally quirked an eyebrow, "And go where?"

"I hear that Halloween is when all the crazies really come out in New York," she replied with a sly grin. "What's say we go help the police deal with the extra workload? Maybe build your reputation back up a little in a different way?"

Grinning at the thought of some good old fashion violence, he nodded, "Sounds like a perfectly good time to me. One question though..."

"Shoot."

Eyes roaming Artemis's body, which was rather enticingly encased in what was meant to be a vampire costume, Wally asked, "Do you plan on sticking with that outfit?"

Catching the look he was giving her, Artemis merely smirked, brushing past him on her path for the exit and adding a little extra sway to her hips with the knowledge that he would be right behind her.

* * *

Hours later, somewhere in the middle of New York (for the life of him, Wally would never be able to remember exactly where), Wally stood in a garden.

It was a nice garden. Not particularly grandiose, but it was plain to him that the plants had been lovingly tended to for much of their lives. Perhaps a tad neglected in the recent weeks, but they were nothing if not content.

For someone like Wally, this small oasis of green in an island of concrete should have been something akin to paradise. Yet, in this place, where he should be feeling peace and warmth, reflecting the contentment of the plants around him, he felt nothing but rage.

There was something else in the garden. Something buried amidst the roots. Something that did not belong, despite the nourishment that it provided the green.

It was a girl. Young, not even into her teens judging from the size. Placed there by her _brother_ of all people.

A brother that now stood before him, gloating _proudly_ that he had done so for the 'purity' to wield the sword now in his grasp.

Beside him, Artemis tensed, drawing her bowstring tight in as subtle a manner as she could. Wally didn't notice, however. All he saw was red.

He saw red. And the green responded.

* * *

The self-declared 'Harm' noticed the shifting of the plants around him when he had entered the garden, immediately attributing it to the green-skinned it before him.

Given Harm's previous experience with the green its' power this evening, many would consider it unwise to face it in a garden, but Harm was confident in Harm's purity and the power of the Sword of Beowulf.

Harm was confident, casually, almost lazily, raising the sword to smite the its... only to find that Harm could not move Harm's own arm.

Glancing downwards to witness the obstruction, Harm noted the deceptively strong vine that encircled Harm's wrist.

Chuckling smugly, Harm merely exerted greater strength and tugged harder.

Harm regretted that decision when Harm felt an array of thorns grow from the vine, digging viciously into Harm's flesh and causing Harm... harm.

Harm winced at the unwelcome pain, but Harm did not scream. Harm did, however, as Harm began to feel numerous other vines begin to work their way up Harm's legs, already high enough and tight enough to prevent Harm from moving, feel something that Harm had not felt since Harm's purification.

Harm felt fear.

* * *

Artemis watched as the vines began to bind the sword-wielding lunatic with incredible speed, bow still drawn as she awaited 'Harm's' attempts to escape.

The bowstring slacked, however, when she saw the blood dripping from innumerable points in Harm's flesh.

Her eyes immediately noticed something on the vines that she had initially overlooked, and in that moment she remembered that Thorn was Poison Ivy's nephew.

Every one of the vines digging into Harm's flesh was covered in viciously barbed thorns.

* * *

Wally watched with cold satisfaction as Harm's legs were completely bound, along with his sword wielding arm. His face contorted in fear and pain. Were it anyone else, Wally might have felt sympathy, but if there was one taboo that Wally upheld it was this... you didn't hurt family.

It was one thing to let them down, to turn against them, to keep them from doing things that they would regret... but to hurt them, willfully and viciously... to _kill _them was another thing entirely.

Thorn planned to make Harm suffer. Already, he was in pain. Already he was mere moments from screaming in agony as the vines, now akin to razor wires, spread further up his body.

But something stopped him.

From the ground between himself and Harm, a ghostly figure rose. The same one that had led himself and Artemis to this garden in the first place.

"Secret," was all she said, though her eyes spoke volumes.

Wally ignored her. The vines around Harm tightened. Harm finally let loose his scream for the world to hear, his grip finally weakening as he dropped the Sword to the dirt.

"Secret!" She repeated forcefully, her eyes speaking louder now that Wally's hardened gaze had diverted to meet them.

The vines digging into Harm slackened marginally. He groaned pitifully in a mixture of pain and relief.

"Secret!" She insisted again, her eyes now pleading with Wally. "Secret! Secret! Secret!"

Wally's gaze softened, his fury slowly receding as he fully grasped the spirit's meaning.

Wally's eyes dropped to the ground, refusing to watch as he ordered the vines to recede, each of them carefully removing themselves from Harm's form, allowing the older teen to drop pitifully to the ground, blissfully unconscious.

He would be fine, Wally knew. His arm and legs would scar like hell, but the thorns hadn't nicked anything vital. He'd last until a paramedic got to him.

Artemis watched, horrified, mystified and... kinda relieved, as Thorn stood stoically, both of them watching the ethereal girl calmly walked over to her brother, fearlessly facing her murderer.

She bent down to touch her brother softly on the shoulder, receiving a low groan in response from the fainted form, before she stood once more, turning back to face the duo that she had led to her grave.

"Secret," she said softly, as though uttering an unwanted goodbye, before she slowly dissipated into the breeze, vanishing, the teens supposed, from the earthly plane.

Silence.

"What just happened?" Artemis eventually asked, quietly, so as not to disturb the noiseless atmosphere.

"I think..." Wally told her softly, torn between glaring harshly at Harm, and staring after Secret's disappeared form, "She forgave him."

"Why?"

"Because," Wally closed his eyes, sadly recalling an image of his Aunt Ivy, "No matter what happened... he was still her brother. She couldn't _not_ love him."

* * *

"So..." Artemis asked hesitantly, some time after the duo had left Harm to the authorities, "You went a little berserk back there. You okay?"

Their bikes had been destroyed by Harm at some point in the earlier scuffle, so they were walking to the nearest zeta-tubes, finding themselves more than a little thankful that it was still Halloween, so Artemis's costume and Thorn's skin tone didn't raise any eyebrows.

"I'm fine," Wally replied, tiredly rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Just... I'm trying, you know? But, just what the hell are you supposed to do with someone like that?"

Artemis gave out a hollow laugh, "Send'em to the cops. Hope that they won't break out. Fight'em again when they do."

"...it sucks."

"Preaching to the choir."

"So," Wally glanced sideways at her as they walked down the road, "What makes you do it?"

"Huh?" Artemis was surprised by the question.

"What makes you keep doing it?" Wally asked again, "Why do you do the missions, why do you fight these people... some of whom'll probably be invited to your next family reunion."

She considered the question for a moment, before answering, "I don't know. At first... I don't know, I just wanted to stick it to Dad. Y'know? He was a supervillain. Ultimate teen rebellion for me was to become a superhero."

"And now?" Wally pressed.

"I... I like it," she told him hesitantly, "I don't know, just, helping people? Knowing that you made a difference in their lives, even if the bad guys will _always_ keep coming... it feels right."

"Hm," Wally gave a light smile, "Must be nice."

Artemis 'hmmd' right back, and the duo continued to walk the streets, a comfortable silence falling upon them as they made their way back to the zeta-tubes.

"Hey," Wally stopped her, just as she was programming the teleporter to send them straight back to the Cave, "Can you not tell your team about tonight?"

"Sure," Artemis smirked, "It'll be our secret."

Wally nodded with a sad smile as she turned back to the console, only to turn back shortly.

"Just so you know, though," she told him, her smirk evolving into a sly smile, "Your whole 'bad boy' routine got stale right around the time you helped fight off the Injustice League."

"What do you mean?" Wally's brow furrowed in confusion.

"It's not _my_ team," she informed him, only a little smug as she shattered his delusions, "They're _our_ team."


	10. Chapter 10

Wally watched the team (_our team_, Artemis had said) from the kitchenette.

They had congregated in the sitting area, crowding around the young Zatanna Zatara, doing their best to welcome her to the Cave without reminding her why it was she was being forced to move there.

Giovanni Zatara had donned the Helm of Fate barely 24 hours ago. Nabu had refused to release him. Wally could honestly say that he wouldn't have wished that upon his worst enemy.

Wally had never met Zatanna before, only Robin and Artemis had been previously introduced. It seemed that Zatara was not the type of man to trust his daughter within spitting distance of a teenager who actually listed 'manipulating women' as a superpower.

But now he was gone. And now she was here.

Wally could see that the reality of the situation had not yet hit her. She was dazed, just sort of allowing Miss Martian and Aqualad to welcome her and offer condolences without really accepting them.

It made him think. She woke up just yesterday with her father happy and whole, only for her day to turn into a nightmare when he and every other adult on the planet simply vanished from the world. After almost an entire day of fear and worry and hysteria, the adults had been returned, but at a cost.

Across the globe, parents were reuniting with their children, and here Zatanna was. Without her father.

It really made him think.

Nobody noticed as Wally left the kitchenette, treading silently towards the hangar.

It didn't take too much convincing to get the Super-Cycle to unlock the hangar doors, something Conner had unthinkingly taught her the first time the clone had ridden the organism he had affectionately named 'Sphere'.

The Kryptonian heard the doors open and the Cycle's engines rev, alerting his teammates to the anomaly. But by the time they got to the hangar, Thorn was already gone, a small note left where Sphere usually rested.

_Be back soon,_ it read. _There's someone I need to see. Don't call Batman._

Six teenagers shared questioning glances.

* * *

Breaking into Arkham was far easier than the last time Wally had attempted it. He supposed that that may have had something to do with the fact that more than half of the guards were currently home with their children rather than manning their stations.

He slipped by the remaining jailers with ease. He'd decided to go 'classic' for this little adventure, his jeans and the green of his skin helping him fade from sight as he kept to the shadows as he trod silently through the halls, looking for a very specific cell.

He'd checked and double-checked the number before he'd left, but Wally was forced to doubt himself when he arrived at Cell-106 to find an empty room.

Wally slapped himself. She'd already escaped. And judging from the general lack of green or destruction in the immediate area, Wally doubted that she'd done it herself.

"Dammit," he hissed quietly, before breaking into a sprint as he rushed to check a few of the other choice cells he had memorized over the years.

Two minutes later and Wally was barely keeping himself from hysteria as he stood at the door of the cell of Halreen Quinzel.

Aside from Ivy, there had been just one other disappearance. The Joker. And, given that Aunt Harley was still sleeping like a baby in her cot, Wally knew that neither escapee had had much of a hand in their respective breakouts.

That meant someone else was calling the shots, and so far the only organization to have anything to do with both Ivy i_and_/i the Joker was the Injustice League which, to Wally, spelt out pretty clearly 'Not Good'.

Choosing to deal with his frustration and mild terror in a completely healthy and mature way, Wally then banged his head against the metal door of Harley's cell.

This, as it turned out, was not his best idea.

"Unh?" Came a slight groan from within, giving Wally just enough warning about what was to come to know that it was too late to stop it. "Little Red? What're you doing here?"

Wally blankly watched as his honorary aunt blinked sleepily, throwing away her covers and staggered tiredly to her feet, taking a shaky step towards the door before realization set in.

"What're _you_ doing here?" She asked again, this time with venom in her voice as she, suddenly wide awake, turned sharply on her heel and crossed her arms with a notable huff.

"..." Wally honestly had no clue of what to say. There were a ton of things he'd planned to talk to Ivy about, but Harley had completely slipped his mind.

"If you're here to beg for forgiveness, well, you can just forget it," she told him in an oddly biting combination of a hiss and a whine, "I ain't never gonna forgive you for turning on your Uncle J and me! And after everythin' Red and I did for you!"

"I'm sorry," Wally said without thinking.

Harley looked at him over her shoulder, one eyebrow raised expectantly as she pointedly kept her mouth shut in an angry pout.

"Actually, I'm not sorry about stopping Joker," Wally amended, before elaborating, "But I i_am_/i sorry that I got you sent back here."

Harley facial expression didn't change, even as she gave a quiet 'ahem', that plainly told Wally what she was waiting for.

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. He should've known.

"I'm sorry, _Aunt Harley_," he repeated, this time stressing on her name, "Queen of all that is laughter, pranks, and custard-filled pies."

"_And?_" She prompted.

"_And_," Wally grit his teeth at this point, "Mistress of Super Smash Bros Brawl."

"_And?_" This time she reached through the bars of the small window of her door to poke him in the chest.

"And Princess Zelda totally kicks Kirby's ass," he muttered irritably, "Even though you _totally_ cheated last time and-"

"Little Red!" She cheered, all trace of hostility gone in an instant as she pressed her face against the window, "How ya been, kiddo? You gonna let your old Aunt Harley outta here, or what?"

"Uh," Wally stammered, "Well, y'see... the thing about that is..."

"Thorn?" Harley questioned earnestly, "Whatsamatta?

Wally sighed, "I can't let you out. Aunt Harls... I've gone legit."

Harley gasped with all the horror she could muster, as though he'd just told her that April Fool's Day and Halloween had both been cancelled and grease paint had disappeared from the face of the earth.

And then, once her need for drama had been satisfied...

"Eh."

"Eh?" Wally raised an eyebrow, affronted. "I tell you I'm going straight and all I get is an 'eh'?"

"What can I say?" She shrugged, "I saw it comin'."

"You... saw it coming?" Wally practically gaped at her.

"Well, duh," Harley rolled her eyes at her best pal's nephew, "Psychologist, remember? Always knew ya weren't cut out for the life. Ya just had to work through that weird hero-worship thing ya had goin' on with Big Red. Only don't ever tell her I called her 'big', see?"

"Now listen," she continued, while Wally still tried to process through what she'd just said, "I know your aunt ain't exactly gonna be thrilled about the news, but don't let that stop ya from doin' what ya gotta do. Got it?"

Nodding numbly, Wally parroted, "Got it."

"Good," Harley nodded surely to herself, "Now get outta here before some mook puts a spot on your nice and clean pardoned record."

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Wally smiled. Leaning in, he kissed his aunt's cheek through the bars and said, "Thanks, Aunt Harley. I'm gonna miss you."

"Aw, I'll miss you too, Little Red," she shooed him, "But hey, they can't keep me here forever. I'll pop in and visit you every now and then. Make sure your life doesn't get all borin' being a goody goody. And you can always come see me here."

Wally smiled at her again, promising that he'd come and visit her legally as soon as he was able as he made to leave, only for her to stop him as she remembered one more thing she wanted to say.

"Always remember your roots, kiddo," she told him, with as much seriousness as was possible for the Harlequin, the pun notwithstanding, "No matter what ya wind up doin' with yourself, you were raised by a pair a' nutjobs and ya managed to turn out alright. Don't forget that."

"Oh, and, uh," she continued with a cheeky grin, "If ya get the chance, could ya do me a favor?"

Wally met her grin with his own as he anticipated what she was about to ask.

"I'll see if I can't sneak a whoopee cushion under the Batplane's seat," he promised, "I'll try and get you a picture of his face if he falls for it."

Several hours later, a guard of the understaffed Asylum finally got around to Harley Quinn's cell, only to find her laughing hysterically about bats, planes and whoopee cushions.

* * *

Wally was on autopilot as he made his way back to the Cave. Literally, the Cycle steered herself and all Wally did was watch the city of Gotham pass below him, his mind distracted by thoughts of his meeting.

Harley had told him that he wasn't cut out to be a villain.

Over the years, Thorn had heard that line more than once, usually from prison psychologists who, despite impressive credentials, rarely had any idea of what was going on inside his head. Robin had used to say it with annoying regularity too, mostly when he had visited Wally in prison, usually as a means of taunting. After all, you couldn't be _that_ great a villain if you kept getting caught, now, could you?

Artemis had said it too, in her own snarky way. Wally had initially dismissed it, but now he wasn't so sure.

Because now Harley had said it. Harley who, despite her insanity, was probably the foremost mind in super-villain psychology. And she'd said it with an uncharacteristic seriousness that let him know she meant it.

He wasn't cut out for villainy. Destroying things may have been fun, but hurting innocent people had never sat well with him. So what else was he gonna do?

Wally thought about his upcoming pardon, set to be official and signed by the end of the week if you considered Robin a reliable source. He'd be free to leave the Cave after that.

And where would he go? His parents? Nah. He'd been gone for too long, changed too much. It wouldn't be right to impose himself upon them now.

Besides, they hadn't seemed all that thrilled with the green last he saw them.

Would the government take him in? Send him to foster-care? He hoped not. He'd heard too many horror stories in juvie. He'd run away if they tried.

Hmm, now that was an idea. He could just take off and live off the land, like he'd done when he'd first made the pilgrimage to Gotham. Maybe it wouldn't be glamorous, but he could do it. He'd never have to be separated from the green again.

And then, another thought. Why couldn't he stay at the Cave? Sure, Miss Martian and Aqualad split their time between staying with the Manhunter and Atlantis respectively, but they both had actual rooms in the mountain base and Conner, and now the Zatanna girl, were both living there full-time.

So why couldn't he?

Wally could think of a few reasons, chief amongst them being that fact that, if he did, he'd be expected to join the team as an actual member.

That would be awkward. No matter what Artemis and Robin may say, Thorn was not a part of the team and, in all honesty, he wasn't sure if he could do the things they did.

Yes, he'd stopped the breakout of Belle Reve... but that was more for the upgrade in accommodations than anything else.

Yes, he'd faced the Injustice League... but that was for Ivy, not the team.

Yes, he'd done a few other things here and there, for both his own benefit and for the good of others.

Yes, he'd refrained from doing anything illegal lately (mostly).

No, he wasn't a villain. He wasn't a bad guy... but did that make him a hero?

He saw something in the city below, breaking him out of his internal soul-searching.

"Supey, can you bring us down over there?" He asked politely, even as he reached for the controls and made the question pointless as he took over steering, directing them downwards to land on a long since abandoned warehouse.

'Giggles and Tidbits', the sign read, but that wasn't what had caught Wally's attention. Rather, it was the jungle still present within.

Wally smirked as he dismounted from the Cycle, he could tell that someone had tried to remove them, but his plants were nothing if not resilient and they hadn't been willing to risk setting them on fire.

In a way, he supposed, this was where it all began. No, it'd all began with the news report back at the outskirts of Arkham. What was it, three months ago? Four? It didn't seem possible that it hadn't been longer.

But still, Arkham may have been where he made the decision, but this was where he'd actually done it. This was where he willingly risked his life and his freedom to stop the Joker, turning on his own Aunt Harley in the process and leaving Ivy to the Asylum. This was where he'd set himself on the path that led to Belle Reve, to the Cave.

All because of a couple of kids with the sheer bad luck to look like Robin, and the even greater misfortune to catch the Joker's eye.

Wally couldn't tell you any of the kids' names at this point, he'd never really cared to find out, but he could remember how they'd reacted to him.

They had been scared, terrified of the Joker, and that fear hadn't dissipated when he'd started releasing them. They were Gothamites, after all, they'd all known exactly who he was. They didn't understand why Poison Ivy's Thorn would be helping them. Hell, he didn't understand it either.

But he still did it.

He also remembered the wonder in that one girl's eyes when he grew her a rose, just to stop her from struggling really. He remembered, once she'd been untied, she didn't let go of it.

He wondered idly if she'd kept it.

And so, Wally thought, maybe he wasn't a hero. But for a brief moment... to those kids he had been. To those kids he _could_ be.

Wally thought back to Conner. He and the clone had shared a few conversations since their unwanted adventure with the Forever People, during which Conner had explained that one of the reasons he stayed with the Team was because, frankly, he didn't know what else to do with himself. After all, who else did he know in this strange world he had awoken to find himself in?

Wally had just gone over exactly how nonexistent his plans were.

Wally recalled his Halloween conversation with Artemis. She'd told him that the reason she did what she did was because it made her feel good about herself.

He remembered how he'd felt when he'd saved those kids. Good didn't quite cover it.

Wally walked back to the waiting Super-Cycle, thankful that she was remaining silent during his questioning. With an easy motion, he was back aboard Sphere and revving the engine, sending them hurtling skyward.

He was going to stay at the Cave. He knew that. Maybe he'd choose to help the team. Maybe he could be a hero.

After all, he'd saved the world once already (twice if you counted the thing with Dr. Fate). He was off to a great start.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's** **Note: **Okay, so, first off, pretty much everything before this chapter here was written long ago for the yj-anon meme, and I've only just recently started writing for this again. Combined with that I've been having some internet problems lately (hence why I haven't updated since before Christmas). So, anyway, more is definitely on the way, but it might take a bit longer than usual to get posted.

Speaking of which, I'm not one of those idiots who's going to withhold chapters or anything, and I do want to thank everyone who has been reviewing and following the story (I really appreciate the comments), but those of you who haven't reviewed yet should know that, well, fact is reviews (be they positive or negative or [better yet] constructive) make this whole thing so much more enjoyable for me. They inspire me to write more and tend to give me some _really_ good ideas in that regard.

Anyway, enough boring stuff... on with the story!

Oh, also, credit to my new cover art goes to Reo9.

* * *

It had always struck Wally as some great cosmic irony that his birthday fell in the heart of the winter season. After all, with powers such as his, one would generally expect that he had been brought into the world on a day such as the Summer Solstice, as had his aunt. A day of warmth and life, rather than the cold heart of snow.

Here he was, celebrating his sixteenth birthday on the day of the biggest blizzard of the century. Even if 'celebrating' was a slightly exaggerated term. 'Wandering' might be a better fit.

For obvious reasons, Robin, Aqualad and Artemis didn't seem to be making the commute to the Cave today, leaving Wally with just Conner, Zatanna and Miss Martian to pass the time with.

It was only a week since the loss of Zatanna's father, so she was hardly in a celebratory mood and Miss M still liked to keep at least one body between them at all times. As for Conner, well, he didn't really seem to know what a birthday actually was so, even if anyone _had_ known about his birthday, the odds of any actual celebrations were pretty slim. Particularly since Harley was still locked up in Arkham.

At least, that had been what Wally had thought until he had wandered into the hangar to check on the Super-Cycle, only to find four individuals he had most definitely _not_ expected to run into on this morning.

Batman, as imposing and impassive as ever, making a stark comparison to the far more colourfully dressed Robin, who wore a familiarly smug expression and the Flash, who was also dressed much more colourfully than Bats in his scarlet red uniform, as well as a red haired woman who almost looked like she could be... wait, what?

"Aunt Iris?!" Wally blurted in shock, recognizing the woman who had occasionally babysat him after Aunt Isley turned into Aunt Ivy. "What are you doing here?"

Iris West-Allen looked away from the Caped Crusader to take in the sight of her wayward nephew, green skinned now and far taller than the cheerful little boy she had known.

"Wally!" She exclaimed, relieved, taking a step towards him before the Flash placed a hand on her shoulder to hold her in place and Batman interrupted her.

"She's here on the matter of your living arrangements," he revealed.

"What?" Wally looked from his Aunt to Batman and back again. Then he looked to the Flash, who smiled unexpectedly, before turning to Robin in the vain hope of some sort of sane explanation.

"What Bats here means," the Flash elaborated, gesturing towards the scourge of the Gotham underworld idly, "Is that the paperwork for your governmental pardon is ready to go. We just need to sort out a few details first. Namely, who's gonna be looking after you now that you aren't going to be crowding the juvenile detention centers."

"Your parents were previously approached," Batman added stonily, "However..."

"_However_," Iris took her turn to interrupt the Dark Knight. "Rudolph and Mary, well..."

Though his posture never shifted, everyone could see the twitch in Wally's expression as he finished the thought, "They didn't want me back."

"_No!_" Iris said passionately. "Wally, don't ever think that! Your parents love you! But, we thought that..."

"We thought that Iris and I might be able to handle to your situation a little better," the Flash finished, shifting his arm around Iris's shoulders in a manner that made Wally realize exactly how _close_ the speedster was standing to his second favorite (though her competition in that area wasn't faring too well at the moment) aunt.

"What are you talking about?" Wally asked suspiciously.

"Well, Wally..." Flash began, suddenly very awkward.

"We wanted to tell you sooner," Iris added quickly.

"But, well, you were so young..." Flash continued.

"And we weren't sure if you could handle it..."

"And then, you know, the whole 'Thorn' thing..."

"But basically, what we're trying to say is..." Iris said slowly, as the Flash brought a hand to his cowl and began to tug at the scarlet material.

"Hi Wally," the awkwardly smiling face of Barry Allen waved at the green-skinned boy. "How'd you like to come live in Central City with your aunt and me?"

Standing with uncharacteristic silence off to the side, Robin was sure to catch every moment of the usually quick witted and bitingly sarcastic Wally's stunned silence and gaping jaw on the camera he kept tucked in his utility belt.

Unfortunately, it only lasted a few brief minutes before Superman called in a priority alpha alert.

* * *

Wally drove the Super-Cycle through the blizzard's biting chill in absolute silence, not even making idle conversation with his vehicle as he was often prone to do when bored.

So much had happened in the past half hour... Wally felt like his brain was about to melt.

_UNCLE BARRY WAS THE FLASH!_

Dear god, it seemed so amazingly, incredibly, astoundingly impossible. How was it that he was related to _two_ super-beings? Didn't that, like, break all the laws of basic statistics? Not to mention common logic?

Speaking of breaking common logic... UNCLE BARRY WAS THE FLASH!

The same kinda dorky guy with a blatant obsession with puns and stupid jokes who'd taught Wally the basics of chemistry regularly ran around at the speed of sound in skintight spandex... all with his wife's (_Aunt Iris_) full approval and support.

And they were inviting him to _live_ with them?

Him, a known (if semi-reformed) super-villain, living under the same roof as one of the most well respected superheroes in the world... would that mean he was getting a secret identity? Or did they expect him to go to school green and expect nobody to comment? Wait... did they expect him to go to _school?_

And, strangely enough, that wasn't even the weirdest part of his morning.

Turns out the blizzard covering the entire US wasn't entirely as natural as everyone had first assumed. Five floating fortresses scattered across the country were controlling the weather to plunge the world into some kind of Ice Age, only without the talking mammoths, sloths and sabertooth tigers.

With all the roads and airways closed due to the extreme weather conditions, and all members of the Justice League with any particularly useful abilities (like, say, flight or super-speed... or both) being just a touch preoccupied by the aforementioned floating fortresses, Batman had come to him (_Thorn_) and requested (really more like ordered) that he use the Super-Cycle to transport something from Boston to Seattle.

That something, you ask? A human heart. They were desperate enough to trust him with the life of some poor little girl.

And they _were_ desperate. With the blizzard going strong, the entirety of the United States of America had pretty much come to a complete grinding halt. All hands were very much on deck until the fortresses were blown clear out of the sky and, well, of all the superhumans at Batman's disposal, Wally was the only one that sprang to mind who a) possessed abilities that would be of absolutely no use on a flying ice fortress and b) had access to a vehicle and/or other mode of transportation which could actually still function in this weather.

Wally was available and Wally was, supposedly, at least somewhat trustworthy. And Batman literally had no other options unless he were to allow that little girl to die.

Still, the missions, both Flash's assignment to help on the ice fortress assault and Wally's speedy deliver service, kind of cut into their time to actually talk about the Allens' offer before Wally Blue Screen of Death moment over the whole 'Uncle Barry is the Flash!' thing cleared itself up (hell, it _still_ hadn't cleared itself up! He was going nuts here! Was he related to any _other_ supers that he didn't know about?!).

Still, before speeding off to join the fray, Flash had spared his wife and nephew a mournful glance, offering a few parting words.

"Just... just think about it, okay Walls?" He had practically begged, even as he began to pull his cowl back down to cover his face. "We've really missed you these past few years and, well..."

"We've just missed you," Iris concluded, as Flash (_Uncle Barry!_) nodded, giving Wally a brief millisecond to process the request before the speedster had streaked away and Wally himself had turned away without a word to find the Super-Cycle.

Even now as he steered the Cycle down to the streets of Boston, careful of the sleet that pelted him and the gale force winds that would have threatened to send any earthly vehicle flying off course as he took them in carefully for a landing in front of the Boston General Hospital.

The Cycle skidded slightly as they touched down on icy tarmac, but, for the most part, the extraterrestrial craft and her pilot remained in control, bringing themselves to a stop in front of a trio of hospital staff that Wally was assuming were his contacts.

"Speedy Delivery Service, ready to roll," Wally spouted, almost on reflex as the trio hurried towards him, the woman leading the group carefully holding out a red and white case.

"Here's the heart," the lead woman stated strongly, holding it up in order to pass it to him. "The case is insulated against shocks, but it can only take so much, so keep the showboating to a minimum."

Wally nodded simply, accepting the case and placing it into a hold the Cycle had thoughtfully opened up at his side.

"Hey..." one of the other staff members, a thin man who looked quite a few years younger than his colleagues, said questioningly. "Which one are you? Are you new?"

"Huh?" Wally blinked confusedly, before he remembered that, bundled up against the cold in a white parka and gloves and with a pair of heavy goggles and a balaclava to keep the stinging wind from his face, not even a trace of his green skin was visible, leaving his identity a true mystery.

For a brief moment Wally realized that, to this guy at least... he could be absolutely anyone he wanted to be. He could be someone who wasn't weighed down by years of criminal behavior, whether that person was 'Thorn' or someone else entirely. If he so chose, he could simply be Wally West, nephew of Iris West and her husband, Barry Allen.

However, since Wally had developed a slight tendency for the eccentric after being partially raised by Harley Quinn, a slight grin formed beneath the balaclava as he remembered a few games he used to play as a child back in Central City. Back before the emergence of Poison Ivy and _long_ before the appearance of 'Thorn'.

"I said 'Speedy Delivery Service', right?" Wally told the man with prideful arrogance. "I meant it. I'm Flash Boy, and the Flash-Cycle here is the fastest bike in the world!"

"Flash Boy?" The man looked ecstatic as Wally patted the Super-Cycle smugly, even as she made a few irritated beeps at the pseudonyms Wally had assigned them. "Seriously? I-"

"We don't have time for this," the lead woman interrupted irritably, turning to Thorn. "You have exactly four hours until the heart expires, so don't waste even a single second."

"Gotcha," Wally saluted with a touch of conceited pride, "We'll get the heart to Seattle, quick as a Flash!"

Wally revved the Cycle's engines without another word, blasting off from the road and into the air, chuckling as he went.

So he was turning over a new leaf... sort of. Who said that meant he couldn't still mess with people?

"Oh, come on Supey," Wally patted his beeping bike's chassis placatingly, "You know I was just fooling around. I mean, did you see that dude's face when he thought I was a Flash?"

The Cycle simply beeped again, conveying her thoughts rather effectively despite her very limited vocabulary.

"Well, it's not like I could tell them who I actually am," Wally reminded her. "I mean, who in their right minds would give a kid supervillain a human heart and trust them to actually deliver it? Flash Boy and the Flash-Cycle sounds _way_ more trustworthy."

_Beebop._

"Come on," Wally wheedled, gathering that the Cycle didn't seem to like being referred to as anything but her proper title, making only minor exceptions for 'Supey' and 'Sphere' when necessary. "You'll only be the Flash-Cycle for this one mission. It can be, like, your secret identity or something!"

_Beep!_

"Dude, I totally promise," Wally swore, arm raised solemnly. "Scout's Honor. I will never again refer to you as 'the Flash-Cycle'."

_Beep._

"Just as well," Wally shrugged, concentration returning to the controls and the expanse of Boston below him as he began to steer them towards the west. They needed to get to Seattle ASAP. "'Flash Boy' does sound kind of stupid now that I think about it. Now that you mention it, so does 'Flash-Cycle'..."

Wally was quiet for a moment as he thought, with only the sound of the wind filling the silence as they raced towards Seattle.

He smirked at the cycle below him as his genius mind provided an idea...

"How about we be 'Kid Flash' and 'the Speedster'?" He suggested jokingly. "I can cover up the green and we can paint some little lightning bolts on your sides...?"

Had it not been for the exceedingly fragile human heart in her care, the Super-Cycle would gladly have bucked and sent her cargo overboard. As it was, she merely made her displeasure known to him in a more vocal manner.


	12. Chapter 12

Hours past slowly in the wind and the cold as the Cycle moved ever nearer to Seattle, and throughout the entire ordeal Wally was _bored_. The Super-Cycle wasn't much of a conversationalist, after all, and there was only so much 'I Spy' a man could play without a partner.

As such, when the navigational display hardwired into the Cycle began to indicate that Seattle was almost directly below them, Wally felt relief akin to little else in this world. All he had to do now was drop off the heart and he was free to find somewhere _warm_ to wait out the rest of the storm in.

He was thinking the nearest 5-star hotel. He was pretty sure he could find some way to send the bill to the Justice League.

Glancing at his watch and seeing that he had barely a half hour before the heart expired, he double checked the navigational display for the location of the Seattle Medical Center, urging the Cycle to pour on any last reserves of speed to hasten their progress towards the end of his cold and exceedingly boring duties.

Diving down to the pavement, the Super-Cycle skidded slightly across the icy surface towards the entrance of the hospital with almost twenty minutes to spare.

Grabbing the case from it's compartment, Wally jumped down from the Cycle's cockpit, promising the alien organism/vehicle that he'd be back in a few minutes as he carried the case inside, the automatic doors of the hospital opening for him as he approached.

"Speedy Delivery Service," he called out loudly as he entered the foyer, holding the case high, the symbol of the caduceus bared proudly. "Who needs a heart?"

Immediately a small contingent of doctors, nurses and other medical staff leapt into action, one of them taking the case from him whilst one or two others thank Wally profusely, the rest ignoring him as they sent out orders to move the patient to the prepped operating room immediately and for someone to wake the head surgeon.

Throughout all this action, none noticed until it was too late as a group of four men wearing scrubs and surgery masks, who were each perhaps a tad larger than the majority of doctors staffed by the hospital, pulled weapons.

"Everyone freeze!" The largest of the four called, standing by the elevators and directly in the path of the moving heart, aiming his weapon (which, had anyone present been a technology buff, could easily be identified as the LutherCorp prototype X8-1K Laser Weapon, capable of firing off rounds of pure energy that could be modulated into blunt concussive force or melting clean through a sheet of solid steel) at the unfortunate soul now holding the donor heart. "This doesn't need to get ugly. Just give us the heart, and everyone can go on their merry ways."

The three others, stationed on both sides of the foyer entrance and the gift shop respectively, said nothing as one of them shifted his aim between various members of the hospital staff whilst the other trained his weapon on the heavily bundled form of the delivery man, who the thugs knew to be sanctioned by the Justice League and, thus, likely to be far more dangerous than anyone else in the room.

They were right, of course. But that still didn't give them much warning.

Wally wasn't entirely sure why these four men were so opposed to the idea of some little girl getting a new heart (though, if pressed to guess he would assume it had something to do with their employer's failing health and a lot of money). Fortunately, he didn't much care either. All he knew was that these guys were threatening people and were going out of their way to get a little girl killed.

Even with his admittedly admittedly crippled sense of right and wrong (he liked to think of it as 'undergoing renovations'), it seemed pretty simple to him what the right thing to do was.

The man by the elevator moved steadily towards the doctor holding the heart, who was frozen, either by fear for his life or a will to protect his patient's, completely unaware to what was happening in the potted plants that dotted the walls between the elevators. He did not notice, and nor did his compatriots (whose attentions were too divided amongst the rest of the people in the foyer), as new branches, far stronger than any that the young plants had previously budded, reached out.

Only three of them stretched out from the elevators, the rest anchoring themselves into the wall, creeping slowly in the air as they struggled to grow with limited nutrients and no sunlight, but egged on by Wally's sheer will.

The gasp of a nurse at the strange sight gave the thug the briefest warning before the branches reached him, one of them darting out to encircle his wrist, drawing the barrel of his weapon to the ground as it wrenched his arm downwards whilst the other two branches reached out for his throat and his legs, completely trapping him in bindings of foliage in the blink of an eye.

The second thug, standing by the gift shop, had a matter of seconds to react as he watched his associate find himself trussed up like a turkey by moving plants and, possessing fairly strong instincts in regards to personal survival, immediately twisted around to face the wall of flowery bouquets behind him, weapon drawn as panic grew within him.

What he saw was absolutely nothing untoward about the plants and, breathing a hushed sigh of relief, he immediately turned back to his mission and his hostages... just in time for a green fist, devoid of the padding that any gloves would have provided, landed squarely on his jaw, knocking him cold before he even hit the ground.

Standing above the unconscious thug, rubbing his bruising knuckles absentmindedly, Wally stepped towards the array of potential weapons before him as he wondered idly how best to deal with the third and fourth thugs when they finally overcame their shock.

Making his decision as his eyes caught ahold of a bouquet of luscious red roses, Wally tugged off his remaining glove and reached out and plucked a stem in each hand.

Grimacing reflexively, Wally allowed his grip to tighten around the rose stems which, even carefully devoid of the thorns that would normally dot any living specimen, hurt him more than he'd care to admit as he felt the stems begin to grow offshoots into his very flesh.

The flowers in the bouquets were dead- had been for days- and at this point it was only water that allowed them to retain the rigidity and the appearance of life. Without the nutrients found in soil, or at least a bit of sunlight, neither Thorn nor Poison Ivy could ever breathe life into such specimens.

Well, not unless they imparted the nutrients in their own flesh at least.

Given that it was actually rather painful to have roots grow into your flesh and sap at your energy, Wally considered it rather understandable that he didn't use this particular ability all that often.

With a room full of hostages and a pair of laser-wielding thugs to deal with, however, (and, particularly, the life of a little girl in the balance) Wally considered it worth it.

After all, he thought irritably, as he turned to face the final goons, a pair of thorny vines growing from his palms. What else was he supposed to do in the middle of the biggest snowstorm in history?

"Get down!" He ordered, loudly and clearly, signaling the hostages to drop as one to the floor as Wally himself began to charge at the last two men, who, as luck would have it, reacted to his voice in much the same way as the hostages had and not, unfortunately, in that they dropped to the floor in fear.

Rather, Wally's voice snapped them out of their shock, and both raised their weapons with a simple thought in mind: ending the threat to their mission.

Wally weaved as he ran, keeping his muscles loose and relaxed despite their strain, prepared to jump, dive or dart in any direction at a moment's notice as the laser fire came towards him.

Surviving the first volley unscathed, Wally found himself less than halfway across the now emptied lobby, the hostages having all taken the chance, once they met the floor, to begin clearing the area. Taking the chance now that the goons were hurriedly reloading their weapons, he swiped his right arm through the air above his head, whipping the vine that grew from his palm upwards and deftly latch itself, under his direction, to the roof, heavy thorns growing from the tip to dig into the plaster as, with a tug, Wally threw himself into a swing that sent him barreling feet first into the first of the thugs.

Rolling with the impact, Wally directed his left vine to encircle the goon beneath him as he himself scrambled to his feet, just in time to get knocked back onto his ass when one of the second thug's blasts (which, thankfully, had never been switched from the concussive force blasts in all the confusion) caught him in the ribs.

"Argh!" Wally screamed, certain that he'd just felt several somethings snap. Gritting his teeth against the pain, however, Wally pulled hard with his left arm, at the same time surging to his feet using the first thug's captured body as an anchor and then whipping his right arm around, using the vine to block another pair of shots fired in rapid succession, wincing in sympathetic agony before he released his grip on the first goon, even as he kicked the man solidly in the head, and whipped the left vine out towards the last remaining threat.

Wrapping strongly around the man's torso, thorns digging into the scrubs and the heavy coat that he wore, Wally pulled hard on the vine, simultaneously urging it to obey his whims, the combined effort working to throw the man solidly across the foyer, sending him crashing heavily into the far wall, where he slipped, unconscious, to the ground.

* * *

For a brief moment, the only sound in the hospital foyer was Wally's harsh breathing and the whimpers of the two captured (but unfortunately still conscious) thugs as they attempted to fight their bindings.

After almost a full minute, however, the shock of the staff began to fade as a few daring souls began to raise their heads, noting that the danger was done and that their savior was... green?

The figure who had saved them, the one who had delivered the donated heart, before a faceless being covered head to toe in concealing clothing to better protect him from the snow, was working tenderly to remove much of his covering, careful to avoid aggravating his wounded ribs as he leaned heavily against a wall.

His balaclava and goggles and already been tossed to the side, allowing him to breath without constriction, even as he struggled to unzip his parka whilst keeping one arm tightly against his ribs. Fiery red hair and emerald skin was revealed to all.

Several of the staff members, those who had been either closest to the heart at the time or those who were meant to be assisting with the procedure, had already fled for the operating room before the men had even been fully dealt with. No matter what insanity was going on around them, they were, first and foremost, doctors and nurses. The spectacle of the foyer, the origins of the thugs and exactly who it was who had saved them would be pushed to the backs of their minds as they instead focussed on saving the life of their patient.

Of the rest, however, the spectacle was something to be focussed on. Already calls were being made to the police, though how long it would take them to arrive in this storm was unknown, and, in the meantime, hospital security staff, understaffed as it was, would be taking responsibility for the criminals until then.

Which left their rescuer. Of those remaining in the foyer after the initial flurry of activity, there were ten. An eclectic mix of three doctors, four nurses, one orderly and two members of the hospital's managerial staff, none had any immediately pressing duties to attend to. Or, at least, none that took precedence over their natural curiosity.

The courier... their savior... was green. What exactly this meant was a mystery. The first answer to simultaneously spring to the mind of two of the doctors', a dark-skinned surgeon with a shaved head and a caucasian man with carefully styled brown hair, was Martian.

That theory did not quite hold up, however, given the strange power over plants that the boy (for he seemed not yet old enough to be considered a man) possessed, in the absence of the Martian Manhunter's traditional abilities.

The power over plants led to the truth. Whilst the general public tended to lack an encyclopedic knowledge of meta-humans and their ilk, the Injustice League's recent attack was still fresh in the minds of the public. Chlorokinetic abilities combined with green skin and red hair led to a very simple conclusion. Poison Ivy and her somewhat lesser known young partner... Thorn.

And he was the one who had rescued them? He was the one who had delivered the heart? This young ecoterrorist?

One of the nurses, the head nurse of the hospital in fact. A woman in her mid-thirties of Dominican descent by the name of Carla, was torn from the mixture of shock, confusion and adrenaline fueled fear that had overtaken her emotions when the green-skinned young man slumped from his leaning position, breathing heavily and sliding down the wall slowly as he tried to sit, holding his arm tightly to his chest, right over the area where he had earlier taken a blast from the strange weapons wielded by those who had attempted to steal the heart.

Sharing a few cautious glances with several of her colleagues, Carla stepped hesitantly towards the boy, another of the nurses a step behind her. Seeing Carla move, the brown haired doctor, Doctor Dorian, came to the same realization that, no matter the circumstances, there was someone before him in need of medical attention.

"Laverne, do me a favor and see if they're free in radiology at the moment," Dr. Dorian asked strongly to one of the other nurses as he stepped forward and began to address his newest patient. "So... Thorn, was it? I'm Dr. Dorian. Tell me if this hurts."

As he spoke, he came to a stop at the green-skinned boy's side, crouching down to match his seated position as he brought his hands gently to the boy's shoulder and injured ribs.

Thorn hissed painfully at the contact, all the while Dr. Dorian simply acknowledged the reaction before turning to Carla and giving out a few more orders, soon sending the orderly in search of a wheelchair whilst he made arrangements for Thorn to undergo a quick X-ray.

"I have to be sure that your ribs are broken before we do anything else," he explained when Thorn questioned him. "I also need to be sure that the blast didn't knock any bone fragments loose."

Thorn nodded uncomfortably at the explanation, only to grow more and more uncomfortable as nurses and orderlies swirled around him, forcing him into a wheelchair and hurrying him off on his way.

All of these people trying to help him, all the while most of them seemed to do their best to ignore his green skin and, so far at least, not a one had made a single comment about absolutely anything that he'd ever done... it was seriously creeping him out.


End file.
